The Absence of Masks
by Mama san Saki
Summary: Kakashi is sent all the way to a high school in California to protect a girl who knows nothing of her family's ninja history. Can Kakashi handle the fangirls? The pranks? THE ABSENCE OF MASKS? Not the typical high school drama!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**** Hey dudes and dudettes. I wrote this because I had a bit of th'old writer's block with OWAS and thought I'd get my creativity back by writing this. Not that hard to understand, especally for people who've just started watching Naruto. Most characters are my OCs, and any resemblence to Naruto characters not mentioned in the fanfic are not intended. I do not own Naruto.**

**Please enjoy!  
**

Episode 1: A High School in California

"Hey Ami, I'm going on ahead, 'kay?" Hina called out to her friend.

"Yeah sure whatever" was her dreary response. Ayame watched her friend run off into the distance. She was really in a bad mood today. What made it worse was that she had no idea why. It was the first day of the new semester, and all the students were always so happy, just come back from holiday or whatever, excited about the new term ahead. She didn't get it at all. Surely it's just the same every time. New timetable, what else is different about it? Got the same stupid teachers you have to put up with, and what lies ahead on your journey?

Work. Lots of work. And Ayame was very lazy. She slowly dragged her feet along the ground towards her new homeroom.

Sure, she said she was lazy, but that just meant she did what needed to be done, that is, what needed to be done to get good grades. She was a straight A student, and always got good grades without having to try so hard. She was also very light on her feet, and among the top athletes in her class, if not the top, but she didn't join any sport teams or extra-curricular clubs. Couldn't be bothered.

She never missed a homework deadline, and because of that many people accused her of being a teacher's pet. It was obvious that she wasn't, though. She didn't feel the need to treat teachers with any greater respect than she would another acquaintance, and it was clear that the teachers hadn't taken a particular liking to her either.

"Ami!" She heard voice calling her from behind.

"Oh hey there Sarah" she grumbled. To be honest, she preferred people to call her Ayame, but Americans had a hard time pronouncing the name, so just shortened it to that. Yes, she was japanese, but many people commented on how she didn't look it at all. Though there was no mistaking how pretty she was, with her silky brown locks, bright green eyes and golden skin.

"Oh, you don't sound too good. Be happy! It's a new start to the school year!" Sarah chirruped.

"And what's there to be happy about that?" Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"Well, for starters, there's that new teacher everybody's talking about. I've seen him round the place a couple of times. Oh my God he is sexy! I hope we get him as our homeroom teacher..." Sarah said dreamily as they entered their new homeroom.

"Looks don't really mean that much to me. I mean, I wouldn't want someone who's butt-ugly, but I'd rather be able to have an intelligent conversation with an average looking man rather than a meaningless one with some shallow heart throb." She put her messenger bag on the desk she had now claimed as her own.

"Yeah well that's probably why you don't get any action nowadays, I mean, you're really pretty, but you need to learn to have a little fun, y'know?" Ayame glared at her best friend, sitting down at her desk and putting her feet up on the desk.

"Oh and that's another thing. Boys would probably ask you out a lot more if you didn't look like you were going to kill them all the time. That look could scare anyone shitless." Sarah joked. Ayame smiled softly. "Yeah, well as it just so happens, I'm not looking for anyone right now."

"AMI!!!!" A booming voice startled her slightly, but then she realised who it was.

"Ami, we're in the same class! Ain't that great?" Nathan, her blond-haired, blue eyed, stereotypically beautiful friend (with many fangirls) said, practically bouncing up and down.

"You need to calm down, man! Too many coffees, I presume?" Ayame chuckled.

"Nah, I'm just stoked. A new start to the year and all, turning over a new leaf, etcetera etcetera..."

"Hey, I've just realised... our homeroom teacher is like...fifteen minutes late.."

As if by magic, the door suddenly opened, and in walked a tall man wearing a thin black tie with a blue shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, and a normal pair of jeans along with a pair of black and white Vans. His messy silver hair flopped forward over his mismatched eyes, one red with a scar over it, (not that you'd notice if you were far away, say, at the back of the classroom) one dark blue. His skin was pale as snow and his actual facial structure was, well, pretty much flawless. As he walked into the classroom, all talking stopped, as the pupils stared in awe at this...man. Ayame even drew a sharp intake of breath.

'That wasn't what I was expecting.'she thought quietly to herself. The man stood at the front of the classroom, eyes glued to an orange book with japanese writing on it. Most of the class wondered what it said, while Ayame looked down, blushing slightly.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod it's him!" Sarah whispered.

"So, quiet," he sighed, "What a nice class..." He turned round, went behind the desk and started writing something on the whiteboard. He then turned to face the class.

"Right. I'm Kakashi Hatake, but you can call me, I dunno, whatever's easier for you to pronounce. I'm your new homeroom teacher. I also teach history, and...I'm new here so, please be gentle. Any questions?" he said, with a deep, slightly slurred voice.

A boy put up his hand.

"Yes, you, little one at the back." Kakashi leaned back on the desk as if he was bored out of his skull. His comment, however, earned a few sniggers around the room.

"Um, that name's Japanese right?"

"Yes."

"So we can call you 'Sensei'!" the boy said, with a few people in the classroom agreeing enthusiastically. Kakashi's already harsh eyes narrowed.

"If you must...Now, you'll be spending until lunchtime with me, so I guess we should get to know eachother, y'know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams... So we'll start from the back and work our way forward."

"Aah, Sensei, shouldn't we know about you first?" A girl interrupted. She probably wanted to know what his was into so that she could say she was into the same thing, Ayame thought.

"Er...Okay..." he drawled. "My likes and dislikes...I don't feel like telling you. I have a lot of hobbies, and my dreams and aspirations...I doubt that's any of your business."

"Wait, so all we got is your name?" One of the guys on the football team said.

"Pretty much. Now you." He pointed to the back of the class. Ayame didn't really listen to whatever the others were saying until it was her turn. Kakashi was now squinting at her with a look of either deep concentration or boredom, waiting for her to speak. She stood up.

"My name's Ayame Sasaki. I like...I like ..." her mind went blank. She needed something, anything would do. "Cake." she raised her fist in triumph. "And I dislike seafood. I like reading, and my dream is to become a successful author, so I can get a big house." a few laughs were heard as she sat down abruptly. His eyes lingered on her for a while before moving to the next person.

'Ayame Sasaki...so this is the girl I was hired to protect.' Kakashi thought as the next girl stood up to speak.

"_Name: Sasaki Ayame. She's the daughter of Sasaki Hayate, and heiress to one of the most successful businesses out there." Tsunade handed Kakashi a file. Kakashi inspected it closely before asking, 'Sasaki Hayate...Where have I heard that name before?'_

"_He was once a valued member of AnBu, but moved away to Japan when his first child, Shin, was born. A recent illness means that he's slowly but surely becoming weaker, and he's worried that he won't be able to protect her." Tsunade answered._

"_Hm. Rings a bell. So, she's got a bit of ninja blood in her, eh?" He leaned back in his chair._

"_Yes, though she doesn't know it. She's a fairly normal girl, pretty much a straight A student, though very light on her feet, and stronger than the average male." Tsunade explained._

"_Like most kunoichi." Kakashi commented, flashing a smirk under his mask._

"_She also has quite keen senses, notices things most people wouldn't." Tsunade continued._

"_You are to protect her, as she and her father have been receiving multiple death threats. Don't let anyone know who you really are. Except the principle, an old friend of Hayate's and your actual client, though he holds no ninja ability. I'll expect you to report here tomorrow at 5:00am. You'll be the only one on this mission as far as I know, since these aren't other ninja we're dealing with." Kakashi nodded._

"_Oh, and one more thing..."Tsunade stood up and waved a finger in front of Kakashi's face._

"_You're gonna have to lose the mask."_

!-- page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --

'Damn old woman...' Kakashi mentally cursed Tsunade. 'Without my mask everything's smell is so...strong.' After everyone had their turn, Kakashi gave them a simple character building excersize to do while he indulged in his icha icha fantasies until the bell rang. He then saw some of that class again in History, where most of the girls had changed since that morning into something slightly more whorish. He managed to ignore the girls who purposely dropped their pens right next to him and stay well away from the occasional panty shot.

'If only they knew, my standards are much higher than that.'

'He was in such a 'good' mood by the end of that lesson that he decided to set some 'light' homework.

"An essay? Right at the beginning of term? That's a bit harsh." Nathan commented.

"Yeah, now most of the boys are kinda out to get him." Hina chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, they've actually gone out of their way. They're gonna kill him!" Ayame laughed.

"Hey hey hey!" Sarah eventually caught up with the group. "How was it?"

"Essay." Ayame deadpanned.

"Whaat? How can such a beautiful face be so cruel?" She sighed, tears in her eyes.

"Hey, speaking of faces, Theo didn't come in today." Ayame started.

"Oh, he hurt his leg over the holidays. Fell down a rabbit hole or something." Hina explained. She would know, being Theo's girlfriend for almost 3 years now.

"Talk about commitment..." she muttered under her breath.

"Well, see you guys later..." Ayame waved as they parted their separate ways.

Day two, Ayame and friends were chatting at the front of the classroom.

"Hey guys." A familiar voice said monotonously. They looked up, happy to see...

"Theo! We heard you fell down a rabbit hole!" Sarah chimed.

"Yes, well as you can see, I'm still recovering..." he started, drawing attention to his crutches, "I'll get by. So Ayame, who's your desk-chum?"

The others tried not to laugh. Theo had explained time and time again that not all Britons spoke like he did. They still didn't believe him.

"Well no one at the moment. It's empty."

"Aw, too bad. Well, I'm in Hina's class, so I guess I'll see you guys later." He waved, then started limping out. Kakashi was once again fifteen minutes late. He walked in briskly, reading his orange book with several people shouting, "YOUR LATE!"

"Aah, sorry about that, I was helping an old lady cross the street."

'That's obviously a lie...' was the thought in every students head.

"So..." He leaned back on the desk, "First, we'll be having a new student, who should be here any moment now..." His head slowly turned to the door, and stayed there.

'Surely he's not just gonna wait there until he comes?' was the thought in everyone's head. It opened, and a secretary walked in followed by a tall boy, with several piercings, wearing a pair of skinny jeans with a blue Abercrombie t-shirt. He had brown eyes and brown hair, swept to the side, with a pair of glasses. The girls swooned the moment he came in.

"This is your new class." The secretary chirruped, "And this is..."She said, gesturing to Kakashi.

"Sensei, apparently." Kakashi interrupted, not taking his eyes off his book.

"okay, then, it seems your all set. I'll leave you now. Bye." the secretary walked out.

"Bye." Kakashi drawled, seeming uninterested. He shut his book and looked at the new boy, his head tilted up slightly, as if expecting him to say something.

"Oh, um, my name's Richmond." He smiled.

"Richmond …..?"

"Just Richmond."

"Richmond. Interesting..." Kakashi drawled. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. People around here have taken to calling me 'Sensei' but if you can pronounce the name then please do. Now you can sit next to Miss Ice Cold over there-"

"Whoa, you have a scar on your eye!" Richmond cut in.

"And you have a zit on your face. Now go siddown." Kakashi slurred. He didn't like to be interrupted. Richmond smiled and went over to sit next to Ayame. As he sat down he could swear a little voice at the back said "Burn..."

"And if you're free during lunchtime then maybe you can show him around later."

"Yeah. That would be great." Richmond smiled at Ayame.

"Right so I have few announcements today..." Kakashi walked behind the desk. Just then the door creaked open.

"Yes how can I help y-" As soon as he saw their faces, Kakashi's expression immediately turned from bored to a mixture of shock and horror. Ayame even saw him twitch slightly.

"Hello, my name's Deidara and this is Sasori."

**A/N:**** Right so if there's ANYONE saying you can't break your leg by falling down a rabbit hole, BOTH my music teacher and a good friend of mine were met with a similar fate. So there. Hah.**

**Please review!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**** Hey dudes and dudettes. I wrote this because I had a bit of th'old writer's block with OWAS and thought I'd get my creativity back by writing this. Not that hard to understand, especally for people who've just started watching Naruto. Most characters are my OCs, and any resemblence to Naruto characters not mentioned in the fanfic are not intended. I do not own Naruto.**

**Please enjoy!  
**

Episode 2 -

"_Yes how can I help y-" As soon as he saw their faces, Kakashi's expression immediately turned from bored to a mixture of shock and horror. Ayame even saw him twitch slightly._

"Hello, my name's Deidara and this is Sasori. We teach art and design technology. We're new teachers here and due to transport issues we arrived later than planned..."

Deidara was dressed in a red t-shirt with a red mesh under-shirt, and jeans with a pair of black boots. Sasori was dressed in a white shirt with a light blue tie, beige suit pants and brown shoes.

"So we thought we'd come round and introduce ourselves..." Deidara rambled on. Sasori scanned the pupils until his eyes came to rest on the teacher. His expression went from collected to shocked and a little annoyed. Deidara still didn't realise just who he was standing in the same room as, until he turned to Sasori.

"Right, Sasori? Sa...Sasori?" He clicked his fingers at him. No response. He then turned to see what he was looking at.

"AAH! Hatake Kakashi! What are you doing here!?" Deidara yelled, pointing at said man.

"I should be the one asking you that." Kakashi replied, sounding a little pissed.

"We're only here to earn a little cash." Deidara said, meaning he was hired for the mission, nothing to do with the Akatsuki's actual goal to extract the Kyuubi.

"Uh....Oh. Same here." Kakashi relaxed a bit. "What a coincidence. Well, I'll talk to you two later. Right now I'm a bit...busy." Kakashi gestured to his class.

"Oh, ok sure. Get a beer later or something." Deidara went out, followed by Sasori, closing the door behind him.

"Strange." The bell then went. "OK! Lesson-time. I'll see whoever I see in History. Ja ne." Kakashi walked out.

"What does 'Ja ne' mean?" Richmond leaned over to Ayame.

"Bye." Ayame got up ready to walk to her next lesson.

"Okay...So, your essays were mostly...satisfactory. There's still a lot of work to be done but I think you'll be writing like a pro in no time..." Kakashi walked round the classroom handing out essays he had marked that morning.

"Alright! I got a D!" One boy shouted.

"D is not a good mark." Kakashi deadpanned.

"It's good for me!" The boy beamed.

"Well then, I'd like to see your reaction to a C," Kakashi mumbled, putting Ayame's paper on her desk. She wasn't worried. She was pretty confident what her mark was going to be. She turned the paper over.

"B?" She twitched. This wasn't what she was used to.

"Erm...Excuse me...Kakashi." Ayame turned round.

"Ayame?" Kakashi replied, with that same bored expression he always had on.

"Um...you must've made a mistake in the marking...This-"

"There was no mistake." Kakashi cut her off and continued to hand out essays.

"But..."

"No buts. It's a good essay, it got the job done, but if you were hoping for an A, then better luck next time."

"Oh..." Ayame turned back around. For once in her life she was speechless. Hina looked on in horror.

"But Ami..." she began. "you never get less than an A!" she whispered.

"Now, I understand you weren't exactly pleased with getting an essay on the first day of term, but I assure you, you'll get much easier homework from now on..."

It was the end of the history lesson. Pupils filed out of the classroom while Kakashi sat at the desk, gathering whatever.

"Kakashi." Kakashi looked up to see the deadliest glare he had ever witnessed.

"Ayame." Kakashi replied.

"I want to know exactly what's wrong with this essay." Ayame flopped the essay onto the desk. Kakashi smirked, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, I really didn't think you'd be so upset. Most people consider a B a good mark."

"But I've never gotten less than an A!" she complained.

"Well there's a first time for everything. To be honest, it was the wording. I mean, it started out great, but as it went on, you seemed to kinda...give up." Ayame was about to butt in again, then Kakashi raised his hand.

"I know your sort. You're lazy, like me, but you do what you need to do to get the job done. And you did, essentially, but as you go up the school expectations rise. It's just unfortunate that I am your history teacher, eh?" Kakashi said, looking up. Ayame didn't really know what to say, so she just glared.

"So try harder for me, 'kay?" Kakashi said, smiling.

"For you?" she smirked shifting her weight onto her right foot and crossing her arms, "Why should I?"

"Because, along with many other people..." He looked back at her, with a more serious face than ever, "I want you to excel in life."

That wiped the smirk off her face.

She really wasn't expecting that answer. Kakashi was now looking at her with a more intense gaze than ever. Even more intense than her own, and she would normally accompany it with a threat of some sort, and he was complimenting her, kind of. She eventually managed to tear herself off his stare, after many minutes of awkward silence.

"Whatever." she mumbled, grabbing her bag and briskly walking out of the classroom.

"What the hell?" She walked on. What was it about that stare. Was it the colour? The fact that they were mismatched? Or was it the feeling she got when she looked into them, that he was staring into her soul. It seemed almost...

"Evil." she whispered, shivering as she did so.

And what did he mean by, 'I want you to excel?' she stopped as she was about to push open the door, and took a few steps back, determined to make sense of it all before continuing.

Little did she know, when he said 'I want you to excel at life', he just meant, 'I want you to live.'

Kakashi smirked.

'She's grabbed the bait. Now that she has an interest in me, all I need to do is keep her as close to me as possible. It's good anyway. I want her to spend as much time as she can close to me, so that I can protect her effectively.'

He gathered his books and walked out of the classroom. Just as he was turning to the right, he saw Ayame leaning with her hand against the wall. He smirked once again.

'Oh yeah. This is the easy part.' he said as he turned to the right and walked on quietly without her noticing.

Lunchtime.

Ayame went to sit down on the table with her friends.

"Hey Ayame, you're late." Theo said, blinking. Ayame sat down looking more pissed off than ever.

"She was sorting something out with Sensei. He gave her a B!" Hina leaned in closer. Nathan nearly choked on his drink when he heard that.

"WHAT? But you never get less than an A!"

"That's what I said!" Hina agreed. Ayame then caught sight of Richmond, looking for a place to sit.

"Oh, new kid." She stood up and started flailing her arms around.

"NEW KID! RICHMOND! RICHMOND!" She called until he (finally) noticed her, and walked over.

"Hey guys this is Richmond." she said.

"Hey Richmond." the others chorused.

"Richmond this is Sarah." she pointed at the girl with the red hair shaped into a bob and green eyes.

"I'm Theo." The boy with the black, chin length hair and blue eyes waved.

"I'm Hina." A girl with long, jet-black hair and almost yellow eyes smiled.

"And that's Nathan." Ayame pointed at the boy, who when he heard his name mentioned he gave a win and a thumbs up.

"And incase you didn't catch my name before, I'm Ayame."

"Cool. Can I call you Ami for short?"

"Sure you can. Everybody else does." The two sat down.

"We were just talking about Sensei." Hina explained.

"Oh, isn't he kinda cool?" Everybody stared at Richmond, scared of what Ayame was going to do to him.

"NO HE IS-"Ayame realized she was shouting, took a deep breath and started again.

"No he is not. He is a bastard and I would like to kill him."

she stood up, "I got no more lessons today, so I'll be in the library. Maybe we could meet up there later." She walked off.

Deidara and Sasori were chatting in the staff room.

"So, let me get this straight." Kakashi interrupted them as he sat on the seat opposite them.  
"You're … not here based on any criminal activity?"

"No, we just need some extra cash. When you're wanted just about everywhere, it's hard to get enough cash to spend on food, clothes, and so on. Even luxuries. And living in that dark cave can be very boring. So we were voted to go on the mission to get the group an Akatsuki TV, snooker table, anything really." Deidara explained.

"Hm." Kakashi smiled. "That sounds too ridiculous for words."

"So I ask you, can we put our differences aside for the duration of the mission?" Sasori suggested.

"Of course." Kakashi spoke softly. "But I don't trust you just yet, so I'll have to run anything you tell me past the principle. And as soon as this mission's over..."

"We'll be enemies again." Sasori smirked.

Ayame's free period. She walked into the almost deserted library, setting her books down lazily on a table in front of her and heavily dropped herself down onto a chair. Resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands, she mumbled, "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, still obsessing, are we?" Ayame looked up, shocked. She whipped her head around, to find her Sensei, on the table behind her marking some homework.

"Yo."

"Are you stalking me or something?" Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"I'll have you know I was here first." Kakashi briefly looked up at Ayame. She scowled.

"Why aren't you in the Teacher's Office anyway?"

"Ah, you don't know the stuff they get up to there. "

"Oh."

"Well then," She flipped her seat over so that she was now facing Kakashi. "Since you're here , I might as well ask you. So...What _do_ you want from me?" she crossed her arms. Kakashi exhaled, smiling with his signature wink. "I just want you to do your best. But since you're so upset..." he seemingly magically produced a card between his second and middle finger. "I do private tuition. I also do house visits so, if you're interested..." he was now holding the card between his thumb and index finger.

"Why would I be interested?" Ayame crossed her arms. Kakashi awkwardly smiled, before going back to his marking.

"And those teachers earlier, what are they to you?"

"They worked at the same place as me, during my first job." Kakashi looked up, wondering if she could see through his lie. She couldn't. He looked down again.

"What were you doing? Modeling? Or maybe fetching the coffee for some successful actor." she smirked mockingly.

"No! Our work was far more gruelling than that."

"What? You? Gruelling job? How is that possible? I find that very hard to believe coming from a man who looks like he's never had to get his hands dirty in his life." She said, oblivious to he fact that she was opposite a man who killed daily.

"Oh really?" He looked up, smirking. For the first time Kakashi looked interested in what she was saying.

'That stare again.' Ayame thought.

Her friends started entering the library. Kakashi stood up.

"Well if you ever change your mind..." Kakashi said, about to put the card on the table, but met with a hand in the way. Ayame took the card, looking closely at it.

"I'll think about it." Kakashi smiled, walking out the alternate way. She sighed. "Tuition...never thought it would come to this..." She said, sounding like the end of the world was imminent.

"Hey Ami, just curious, was that Sensei?" Hina's voice came from behind her.

"Yeah." she said.

"Ooh, Ami, I thought looks didn't matter." Sarah sat down next to her.

"What are you talking about?" Ayame raised an eyebrow.

"Y'know. You, Sensei..." Richmond hinted.

"What? Talk about jumping to conclusions!" She put the card in her pocket.

"Oh well what were you talking about then?" Nathan asked.

"He was just saying that since I won't let it go, I should take extra lessons."

"What, like private tuition?" Theo asked, "Will you?"

Ayame sighed. "I dunno."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**** Hey dudes and dudettes. I wrote this because I had a bit of th'old writer's block with OWAS and thought I'd get my creativity back by writing this. Not that hard to understand, especally for people who've just started watching Naruto. Most characters are my OCs, and any resemblence to Naruto characters not mentioned in the fanfic are not intended. I do not own Naruto.**

**Please enjoy!  
**

episode 3 -

"_Private tuition?" Theo asked, "Will you?"_

_Ayame sighed. "I dunno."_

Ayame decided she would go early to school the next day. Very early. 6:00 to be precise. She walked into her homeroom and set her bag on her desk in the front of the classroom.

"You're here early." She looked up to find Kakashi staring at her from behind the teacher's desk, looking rather innocent. She squeaked slightly at being frightened by his sudden appearance.

"Ah, you scared me!"

"Oh, sorry." Kakashi grinned sheepishly.

"Well.." She walked up to the desk, crossing her arms, "I've decided, since History seems to be my worst subject at the moment, I'll accept your offer. You do home visits?"

Kakashi laughed slightly. "Well, once again you surprise me, Sasaki. I thought you'd be too proud."

"Nonsense! These Bs must be stopped and I will do anything to stop them!"She said almost theatrically.

"Well then," Kakashi began, "Yes, I do home visits."

Ayame smiled.

After some discussion, they had a nice chat before Kakashi disappeared off somewhere. People eventually started coming in, and then her friends, who all caught the same train. Until then Ayame had been listening to The football team's captain and his friends plotting revenge on Kakashi.

"So yeah, it's practically foolproof!" Frankie, the captain whispered.

"Are you sure, I mean, he's not stupid, if you act suspiciously he might know something's up." Terry asked, unsure.

"What exactly are you guys planning?"Ayame turned around to face the two.

"We're gonna punk Sensei!" Kalvin and Ed said in unison.

"Oh? And how do you expect to do that?" Ayame raised an eyebrow.

"Well..."Frankie explained, "We're gonna drug him!"

"Oh my gosh. What with?" Ayame asked sarcastically.

"Laxatives!" Terry chirped.

"Interesting. How you gonna pull it off?"

"Well, we're gonna put a whole load of salt in his coffee, so he's gonna be all, like, freaking out and stuff, then we'll offer to get him some water, and we'll put these pills inside his water!"

"No offence guys, but why don't you just put the laxatives _in_ the cofee?" Ayame suggested.

"Um...Well we wanna do it this way, okay?" Ed retorted.

"Yeah, not everyone's as smart as you, Ami." Kalvin commented.

Ayame was slightly taken aback by his comment. For a moment her face softened, and she looked almost...cute.

"Oh but didn't you hear? She got a B in history. Seems like she's not top banana in that subject anymore." Brooke, the only person who didn't get on with Ayame, suddenly appeared. She was the typical blonde cheerleader with the ridiculously short mini-skirts, dressed mostly in pink.

"Well if it isn't the cliché herself." Ayame retorted. Brooke scowled.

"You got a B from the cutest teacher in the school. You must have really done something to annoy him. Maybe if you showed a little more respect towards teachers..."

"Riight. Speaking of which..." Ayame drawled as Kakashi strolled into the classroom.

"Wait a sec... You're late? How could you possibly be late? You've been here since six in the morning!" Ayame pointed at the accused.

"Don't be like that, Ami. I'm sure he had something very important to do." Brooke batted her eyelashes at her Sensei.

"Aha, Well you see, I saw a cute girl on the way here, so I danced."

Just then, there was a mass sweatdrop.

"That's just about the most fucked up excuse I've ever heard." Nathan commented.

"Now now, we'll have no swearing in my class."

The strangest thing happened next. A pigeon flew in out of nowhere and sat on the desk. There were a few screams from the whiny and popular kids. Kakashi looked at the pigeon closely. It had an envelope in it's beak. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, pulling the envelope out.

'The brat probably wanted to make sure it came directly to me so used one of the messenger pigeons to track me down. As if I don't have a life.'

The pigeon then flew away.

"Is that a letter?" Nathan asked.

"Indeed it is." Kakashi opened it, he looked at it, furrowing his brow and narrowing his eyes.

'Oh no. He tried to write in English and as a result...'

"Louise, can you read this?" he asked Louise, who just happened to be standing next to him.

"Okay um...whoa. I...I really wasn't expecting that. Wow, I see what you mean. This is the worst handwriting I've ever seen!"

"I know, right? Anyway, notices."

Kakashi approached the door to Ayame's house.

'Or should I say mansion...'Kakashi thought staring at the many stories of the building. He was about to knock when the door suddenly opened, revealing a boy, around the same age as Kakashi. He looked exactly the same as Ayame, only more masculine.

"You here for the tutoring?" He said.

"In short, yes." Kakashi replied. The boy sighed.

"Follow me." He turned around. Kakashi followed.

"Ayame! AYAME!" he called upstairs. "AYAME YOUR-Hold on." He ran upstairs, calling Ayame. After he'd disappeared, Ayame came out of the kitchen holding two cups of tea.

"Hey." Ayame said.

"Hey."

"Would you like some tea?"

"Oh I'm fi-"

"I already made you some." she interrupted, holding out one of the cups.

"Oh. Thanks." he said, taking it. He could faintly hear a woman's voice yelling, "WHAT? HE'S HERE ALREADY?" Said woman descended with anything but grace.

"Oh, you came much earlier than expected." Kakashi tried to stop his dirty mind form springing up a double-meaning for the sentence.

"Let me just find my glasses...Oh, there." She felt around for her spectacles and in finding them she put them on, and then turned to face Kakashi. Her jaw dropped as soon as she saw him.

"Oh my God..." she walked up to him and started pulling his face in ways faces just aren't meant to be pulled. Kakashi managed to get the cup of tea out of the way before it spilled. The boy then came back downstairs to find this new tutor's face being fondled by his mother. Ayame and her brother watched in slight amusement and very much confusion. Though of course, Kakashi was the most confused.

"That's remarkable. No matter which way I look at it, you look just like Sakumo-san." Mrs Sasaki commented.

"Mffghdshjflsnjvlm." Kakashi tried to speak, slightly panicked.

"Oh? And why would that make sense?" Mrs Sasaki asked, somehow able to understand the rubbish that was coming out of Kakashi's mouth. It was strange how mothers were able to do what most ordinary people found impossible.

"Mghjufcjkshdjhdjkf."

"Oh, really? Wow that does makes sense." She let go of Kakashi's face. Kakashi's stepped back, setting his cup on a shelf in the hall.

"I'd heard a lot about you from my father, I guess it never occurred to me that you were the same person. So..." he said, rubbing his cheeks that were now red with pinch marks.

The lesson went surprisingly well, considering the number of distractions there were. They met again next morning, where they decided they should have the lessons elsewhere, not at her house.

For the next few days Ayame would come in early to school, where Kakashi would be sitting at his desk, reading his favourite book. They'd talk and then Kakashi would disappear before the other students came, and then come back fifteen minutes late. She'd go to his flat for tuition twice a week and worked her way back to the top of the subject eventually.

"Hey Kakashi, it's Friday today."Sasori mentioned.

"Yes. I am aware of that." Kakashi replied.

"So why don't we go out or something? You know, just hang out, maybe go to a club, make out with some girls while we're there..." Deidara suggested.

"I somehow don't think any girl would have me if I were walking around with you two." Kakashi commented, smirking.

"HEY! Just what are you implying?" Deidara fumed.

"Relax, I'm only joking. Sure, I'd love to come out with you guys." Kakashi said, putting on a smug face.

As soon as they got there Deidara and Sasori started busting some moves on the dance floor,and Kakashi headed straight for the bar.

"Kakashi-san." Kakashi turned his head slightly to find Ayame's brother, Shin, sitting next to him.

"Shin-san," Kakashi smiled,"What a coincidence."

"You come here often?" Shin asked.

"No, infact, this is my first time here."

"Hm. You know what I find interesting, Kakashi?"

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"My father always described your family as a powerful and wealthy one. So why would you, Hatake Kakashi, be working in some random high school in California, when you could be doing a load of other things?"

"Because I can. And other things become boring after a while, when you run out of things to do. Now let me ask you something. Why is Sasaki Ayame, daughter of a millionaire, going so some random high school in California when she could be going to one of the better schools around?"

"Because all the other schools are full of snobs who think they're better than everyone else. I went to one of those schools. The facilities were nice but the people were such snobs. Besides, the principle just happens to be a good friend of Father's."

"I see." Kakashi drawled.

"Well I was actually just leaving." Shin got up. "Maybe I'll see you around." Shin left.

And yes, Kakashi did get lucky that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**** Hey dudes and dudettes. I wrote this because I had a bit of th'old writer's block with OWAS and thought I'd get my creativity back by writing this. Not that hard to understand, especally for people who've just started watching Naruto. Most characters are my OCs, and any resemblence to Naruto characters not mentioned in the fanfic are not intended. I do not own Naruto.**

**Yeah, a nice long chapter today, to make up for the slightly shorter chapter 3.  
**

**Please enjoy!  
**

Episode 4 -

Ayame walked into the classroom to find her Sensei sitting at the teachers desk as usual, but something was wrong. His elbows were on the desk and his head rested in his hands. And he wasn't reading. Also, he had been sitting in the dark, with the lights off all this time, and he didn't seem to notice her come in.

"Kakashi?" she tried to get his attention.

"Kakashi." Kakashi whipped his head around to face her.

"Oh, Ayame. I didn't hear you come in."

"Ah, Kakashi you look terrible! Are you feeling okay?" Ayame asked, with a slight worried expression, drawing attention to his pasty skin, the bags under his eyes and the overall forlorn expression.

"What? Oh. I'm fine, just haven't really been getting enough sleep, guess. Why, how bad do I look?" He asked.

"Well," Ayame began, "Apart from your skin being dangerously pale, and your eyes, you still look...um..." Ayame hesitated, trying to find words other that 'beautiful', staring in the process.

"Ok?" Kakashi suggested.

"Yeah. But are you sure you don't wanna take a day off or something?" Ayame furrowed her brow.

"No, no. I'll be fine. Speaking of which, you seem rather dressed up today." Kakashi commented, referring to the checked white and silver tiered dress, black leggings and white, ankle-length cowboy boots she was wearing as opposed to the usual jeans and a plain hoodie. Ayame blushed slightly.

"Any particular reason?"

"Nah, went shopping over the weekend and well it would be a waste if I didn't wear the clothes I bought." Ayame turned quickly and set her bag on her desk, trying to hide the tint of red creeping onto her face. A girl with short brown hair and huge round lasses walked in, wearing a red sweater and blue skirt.

"Oh hi Vivi. You're here early." Ayame greeted her.

"Yes w...well so are you." Vivi replied.

"We're always here this time." Kakashi and Ayame said in unison. Vivi raised an eyebrow. Ayame immediately went back to packing her bag.

Ayame shivvered slightly. It was always awkward talking to Vivi, and she normally tried to break herself away from any social situation. She did feel sorry for her though. Everyone knew that Vivi was an easy target so she was bullied a lot. No one would actually see it, but she'd come into the classroom with bruises or wet hair that she didn't have when she left.

"Hey, Ayame." Her friends arrived.

"Wow, everyone seems to be coming early today." Ayame commented.

"Yeah, and Sensei's early too, that's new." Nathan laughed.

"Not really He gets here at six in the morning every day, but still manages to turn up late to lessons."

"What? No fair." Sarah turned to Kakashi, who wasn't really listening.

"Is he ok?" she mouthed to Ayame.

"Dunno." She mouthed back.

"Anyway, we were going to go to the library. Wanna come with?"

"Yeah, sure."

As soon as they entered the library, Ayame was bombarded with questions.

"It's for him, isn't it?" Sarah leaned in closer.

"What's for who?

"For Sensei. Don't think we don't notice you all looking nice and paying attention to your appearance and all..." Sarah smirked.

"Whaat? Don't be ridiculous! My dressing up has nothing to do with my feelings for Sensei!" she put her hands on her hips matter-of-factly.

"Oh, so you're not denying it?" Richmond narrowed his eyes slyly. Ayame sighed, her hands dropping to her sides.

"No. Of course I like him, who doesn't? But he's way out of my league and still wouldn't have me. I don't think he **does** student/teacher relationships."

"EH? You never told us this!" Hina blurted out.

"Well, they've only been recent, and the tuition-"

"WHAT? So when you said he told you to go take extra lessons, you meant he told you to go take extra lessons _with him._" Theo smirked.

"Oh, well there's still hope then!" Sarah beamed.

"B...But he gave me a B! If he liked me he wouldn't give me a B!" Ayame whined.

"Well, you confronted him later, right? What did he say?" Richmond asked.

"Um...something like, 'I want you to excel in life.'" Ayame looked up to the ceiling. The others stared in disbelieve.

"Ami, this has to be your densest moment. EVER." Sarah said, twitching.

"What?"

Vivi was now sitting at her desk, staring out of the window. Kakashi, seemingly intrigued, sat in brooding position, staring intently into space. His eyes narrowed.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you come here so early?"

"Hm. It's better than home." Vivi replied.

"Oh? That's strange. I thought all kids hated school. I sure do." Kakashi yawned. Vivi got up and walked to the door.

"Sensei?" she turned around.

"Hm, what is it?" Kakashi turned to Vivi.

"Uh...Oh nothing." She walked out of the classroom.

She walked down the corridor, fishing for something in her bag. It was suddenly knocked out of her hand.

"Hey, so what do we have here?" One of the popular girls said, holding her bag.

"There's nothing interesting in there, so give it back, 'kay?" Vivi shouted.

"Oh, well let's find out for ourselves, shall we?" She emptied out the whole contents of Vivi's bag onto the floor.

"I guess she was right." A girl behind her said.

"So can I have it back now?" Vivi asked, holding her hand out.

"Sure you can, if you can reach for it." A third girl laughed. They began to play 'pig in the middle' and continued until Vivi yelled, "Give it back!", when they said, "Suit yourself," and threw the bag at her. It hit her in the face, breaking her glasses and causing her to fall down.

"See you later, loser."

Vivi took off her shattered glasses and began picking up her books, when she was met with a pair of feet. She looked up, to find a blurry face, one that she didn't recognise.

"Took a bit of a tumble, then?"

"Oh, Sensei, it's you." She said, recognising the voice.

"Well, it's nice to see you too." Kakashi said, mockingly.

"Oh, sorry I just couldn't see you well without my glasses!" Vivi said sounding worried and embarrassed.

"Hm? Why aren't you wearing your glasses?" Kakashi began to pick up books, deciding to help her.

"Oh, they broke when I fell." Vivi continued to pack books into her bag.

"You're lying." Vivi stopped dead in her tracks.

"N-No I'm not!" she replied, flustered.

"Oh. Okay then." Kakashi smiled. Vivi sweatdropped. She packed any remaining books into her bag and stood up.

"What were you going to say earlier?" Kakashi asked curiously. Vivi's eyes widened.

"I...um...was just..."

"You can tell me, y'know. What do you think I'm here for?" Kakashi smiled. Vivi sighed, letting her shoulders droop.

"I find it so hard to say, but maybe if I showed you..." She grabbed hold of her sleeve, about to pull it up, but then she caught sight of someone coming round the corner.

"Um, we'll talk later, ok?" she called, and ran out of the door.

Now, providing one knew the situation, this scene would have been quite innocent, but Ayame and her friends, who did not know, saw something different as they turned the corner. A blushing girl, rushing out of the building flustered by her Sensei's -unorthodox- actions. What made it worse was that as they came closer to him he sighed, with a forlorn look on his face. They turned to go back to the library.

"Ok, try and explain THAT then!" Ayame was practically fuming.

"Well, you know she's lonely, maybe he was just being nice." Hina suggested.

"But that look! And that sigh! What was that all about?"

"Listen, what does Vivi have that you don't? Nothing. You just have to...attract his attention, yeah?" Sarah smiled.

"Eh? But I don't wanna be one of those slutty girls who everyone hates." Ayame whined.

"Just little things, like dressing much nicer, which you are right now." Nathan suggested.

"And don't mope around in lessons like you normally do. If you know a question, answer it!" Theo continued.

"Yeah, make him think that your time with him is doing something productive." Richmond smiled.

"That'll boost his ego." Nathan smirked.

"Yes, I always feel good about myself when I know that making a difference." Hina trailed off.

"And that's what I love about you." Theo leant down and gently kissed Hina, leaving her blushing madly.

"Yeah, that's commitment for you." Ayame commented.

"I could use some piece of that." Nathan sighed.

"Shut up Nathan. This is about me, remember?" Ayame glared.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Just, do what we told you, ok?"

"Ok"

Ayame was thinking about what the others had said during lessons.

'Mope around...I don't 'mope'. I don't even know what mope means. Darn Brit...'

"...which were similar to the ones used in the first world war, which of course we know was when, Ayame?" Kakashi pointed at Ayame.

"What?" Ayame was brought out of her deep thought. She soon realized that her hand was raised. "Oh." She laughed sheepishly.

"Um, sorry, could you please repeat the question? Please?" She said her voice slowly dying out.

"The first world war. When was it?"

"Oh, um, 1914 to 1917."

Kakashi beamed. "Well done!"

"Oh, thanks." She drawled.

"It's the wrong answer, but at least you participated!" He patted her on the head. Laughter filled the room before she blurted out, "18! I meant 1918! I did!"

"Yeah, sure you did." Kakashi mocked Ayame. She could tell Brooke was smirking at the back of the classroom somewhere.

'How embarrassing. What's he gonna think of me now?'

The door then creaked open. Vivi then appeared, with slightly damp hair. "Sorry I'm late." She mumbled.

"It's fine, just sit down quickly." He flashed a quick smile before continuing with the lesson.

"Hm..." she mumbled, watching Vivi take her seat. 'Attention seeker. Wait, what am I saying? She's not an attention seeker, infact we all know where she's been, even Kakashi. Aw, he obviously feels sorry for her and that's why he's spending so much time with her. Who am I to accuse her of stealing a man who isn't even mine?'

The lesson ended, and people filed out of the classroom as Ayame lay her head on the desk. Kakashi was trying to get Vivi to talk to him, but she rushed out as Kakashi was waiting for Ayame to finally leave, so he was slightly annoyed at her, but tried not to show it.

"Sasaki." He said, standing infront of her desk.

"That's my name." Ayame mumbled.

"Are you quite alright?"

"Are you annoyed at me?" she once again mumbled. Kakashi was slightly taken aback.

"You only ever call me Sasaki when you're either annoyed or mocking me." Ayame said with a muffled voice, her head not leaving the desk.

"Do I?" he muttered to himself, wondering how and why she picked up on that.

"Yes, you do." she sighed. "I'm a terrible person."

Kakashi immediately forgot he was annoyed.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. Don't you think you're overreacting slightly?" He smiled.

"No I'm not. You're overreacting!" She looked up, annoyed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, smirking. Ayame blushed slightly, before quickly grabbing her bag an rushing out of the classroom.

"Ahahaha, we'll talk later, 'kay?" she left Kakashi standing alone in the classroom. He scratched his head in confusion.

"She sure is a strange one..." He looked to her desk, realizing that she had left some books on her desk. He picked them up and her sketchbook fell to the floor at a random page. He bent down and picked it up. The book was open at a page with a drawing of himself on it.

"Hm...A cartoon?"

He turned the book on its side and flicked through the pages, to reveal a cartoon of Ayame stabbing Kakashi numerous times. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Well make up your mind..."

It was lunchtime. Ayame was talking with her friends.

"I don't normally act like this! It's so weird!" Ayame was telling her friends.

"It's common, really. You've just never fancied anyone before. It makes you act really stupid, trust me." Theo reassured Ayame. Just then she caught sight of Vivi, about to sit down, once again on her own.

"I feel so bad. Maybe we should ask her over." Ayame said, deep in thought.

"Well, if it'll make you fell better." Hina smiled.

Ayame got up and walked over to Vivi.

"Hey, uh...I...was...wondering..." Ayame said.

"I was wondering, 'cause you know...you're here...and..well we've got an extra place at the table for you...If you'd like to..."

Vivi smiled.

"Aha, don't smile like that you make me so nervous!" Ayame laughed.

"Oh, sorry." Vivi smiled again, ignoring what Ayame had just said.

"So I was wondering if you'd like to sit with us?" Ayame smiled.

"Sure." She got up and they made their way to Ayame's table, however as they were passing Brooke's table, a foot came out of nowhere, while Ayame stepped over it Vivi tripped up, sending her tray flying.

"Ah, stupidstupidstupidstupid." she yelled as she was sent hurtling to the ground. She never hit the ground, though. Something was holding her up. She looked back to find Kakashi, holding her wrist, keeping her from falling. Ayame felt a giant pang of jealousy just then, but she tried her best to hide it. Vivi managed to get up herself.

"Thanks..." Vivi mumbled.

"It's ok. Just watch where you step. Anyway, just passing through.." Kakashi smiled.

"Oh, and Ayame. You left your books in the classroom. Be more organised next time, hm?" Kakashi gave the books to Ayame before walking off.

"Be more organized next time, hm?" she mimicked quietly. She then turned to Brooke.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she glared.

"Look, you guys need to learn your place. You're so arrogant, you think you can win by dressing slightly nicer than usual, or turning up late to lessons with wet hair. Everyone knows you faked it, just like you fake everything just to get attention. Attention seeker."

A crowd was slowly gathering around them as this dispute took place. Whispers of 'Cat fight' were heard.

"Lay off, ok? She hasn't done anything to you." Ayame said, feeling slightly hypocritical.

"I don't tolerate fakes, ok? What's even worse is people who hurt themselves just to get noticed. Talk about sad-"

Brooke's comment was met with a slap that echoed throughout the whole hall. There was a deafening silence at that point, which was broken by a clearing of throat. Everyone turned to the source of the noise, to see Kakashi, holding a detention slip. Ayame whipped her head around to look at Brooke, who was rubbing her cheek, smirking.

Later that day, in the teacher's office, Kakashi sat at a table, staring into space.

"So, how's our girl?" he heard Deidara's voice.

"Don't talk to me about our girl." Kakashi replied.

"hm, Kakashi-san, you look terrible. Something wrong?" Sasori sat down next to Deidara.

"What, you mean apart from the fact that I've had no sleep, there's a suspected case of abuse in my class and one of my students may like me?"

"Wait a sec...**one** of your students? I hate to break it to you, but quite a lot of your students find you...attractive. And can't you just avoid them as much as possible?" Deidara suggested.

"Not really. It's our girl." Kakashi sighed.

"Oh. I see. You can't really avoid her, can you?" Sasori stated the obvious.

"Are you sure she likes you? Do you have proof?" Deidara asked. Kakashi threw some sheets of paper at Deidara.

"I photocopied these cause, well, they were kinda cool..."

Deidara flicked through the pages of Ayame killing Kakashi.

"Ahahaha, that's hilarious! And you got from this that she likes you?" Deidara laughed.

"Not the flick-book, the drawing." Kakashi glared. Deidara turned to see a drawing of Kakashi, reading his book at the teacher's desk, with a heart at the bottom.

"Aw, that's sweet. This is almost as good as my work, and I'm a professional. I gotta admit, the girl's got talent."

"What's more, I've got to give her a detention for hitting a girl who was being annoying. I feel so-"

"Hypocritical?" Sasori interrupted.

"Yeah." Kakashi confirmed.

After school, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Kakashi called. The door creaked open, and Ayame walked in, dragging her feet along the floor.

"Have a seat." Ayame did as she was told.

"Ayame...Just to clarify...Why did you hit Brooke again?"

"Cause she was bullying Vivi and that was the only way I knew how to shut her up." Ayame glared. Kakashi sighed.

"Vivi...Ayame, I haven't been here for that long but you have. What's Vivi's history as far as bullying's concerned?"

"She was always bullied. Always. I don't know why. I guess she seemed a bit of an easy target."

Kakashi sighed.

"I've been trying to get her to open up to me all week, and I almost managed it this morning but then you arrived and she ran off."

"Oh." Ayame felt slightly guilty that her appearance that morning stopped his progress, and even more guilty that she misjudged him.

"I want to help her before it's too late but how am I supposed to help her if she won't talk to me? I don't know what to do." Kakashi buried his head in his hands. He really needed some sleep.

"They were right, I am a lousy teacher..."

Ayame instinctively reached out and took his hand, to Kakashi's surprise.

"You're not lousy, you're the best teacher in he world. It's gonna be ok, trust me."

Kakashi smiled thankfully. Normally he would feel uncomfortable with a student holding his hand, but at this time it seemed appropriate somehow.

Ayame smiled. It was the first time she'd seen Kakashi so insecure, and also the first time she'd seen him with such a soft expression.

"Thankyou."

**A/N: I hoped you liked today's chapter! I wrote a nice long one for all you guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

Episode 5 -

_Kakashi smiled thankfully. Normally he would feel uncomfortable with a student holding his hand, but at this time it seemed appropriate somehow._

_Ayame smiled. It was the first time she'd seen Kakashi so insecure, and also the first time she'd seen him with such a soft expression_

"_Thankyou."_

Ayame stood up.

"If you want, I could try and talk to her for you." Ayame offered.

"Could you?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure. Well I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!" She walked out of the classroom.

"Bye." Kakashi drawled as she left.

'Wow, so I didn't get that much of a detention after all...' she thought.

'Oh well, better leg it before he either notices of changes his mind.'

She ran down the corridor at top speed.

Kakashi then noticed something.

"Did I just let her go?" he ran to the door, pulled it open and looked down the corridor to see Ayame running down it. Kakashi laughed softly at her, before walking back and slumping down in his chair.

"I need some sleep."

Vivi got off the bus and began walking home. She walked up to her house, and got her keys ready, when the door opened suddenly.

"You're late." Her father commented.

"The bus arrived late." she mumbled.

"Where are your glasses?" he asked.

"I...I broke them-" she was cut off.

"HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THOSE COST, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He yelled, and pulled her in the house by her collar. "Get inside!" Vivi yelped slightly as she was yanked into the house.

A few hours later saw her curled up in her room, in the dark, with a black eye, a bleeding lip and a sprained wrist.

"Not anymore..." she whispered, as tears streamed down her face.

Ayame was left feeling she'd really blown it this time, but the next morning, Ayame came into the classroom, and once again found it pitch-black.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she called out, incase he was there, like the day before.

"Hm?" was the dreary reply. She turned the lights on, to find Kakashi, looking worse than ever.

"Holy shit. Are you okay?" Ayame blurted out.

"I'm fine, why?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't believe a word of it. You look like a dead man walking! You must take a day off or something!"

"No, I'm fine, really!" Kakashi tried to convince Ayame, but to no avail.

"Yeah, that's why you've been sitting all alone in the dark for two days straight. Kakashi, something's obviously wrong."

"Really? How bad do I look?"

"You look like someone's just died! Namely you. Do you have a temperature or something?" Ayame then proceeded to do various mini-tests to see whether Kakashi was sick or not, ending up with her hand pressed against his forehead.

"Well you don't have a temperature, but-" Kakashi grabbed her wrist.

"Ayame, I'm fine." he laughed nervously. "Just...stop touching me, okay?"

"Oh. Yeah, sorry." She brought her hand to her side.

'Damn, I keep doing the wrong thing. I don't mean to, it's just instinctive but...Talk about inappropriate!' Ayame thought.

There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment, but then her friends, minus Theo, entered the classroom.

"Oh hey guys!" She said enthusiastically, "Where's Theo?"

"He's getting a check up on his leg. He may be able to take his cast off soon.!" Hina beamed.

"Oh, that's great! So..you wanna go to the library or something?" Ayame offered. The others agreed and they went on their way, leaving Kakashi alone in the classroom. He looked up to the ceiling.

"I HATE LIFE!" he yelled. He was obviously in a bad mood.

Vivi went along the corridor looking at her feet the entire time. She could hear whispers around her. She knew what they were about. She looked horrible after last night, but it wouldn't happen again. She would make sure of that.

As she walked into her homeroom, she was met with silence and a lot of stares.

"Vivi! What happened? Are you okay?" Nathan rushed over to Vivi, soon joined by others.

"Nothing happ-"

"Who did this to you?"

"I-" Vivi was cut off by Brooke.

"No one did, that's why she can't tell you."

"Stop it, Brooke." Ayame yelled.

"But really, this is quite extreme, I didn't know you'd go to such lengths to get attention."

"Don't listen to her Viv-" Ayame began. She turned to Vivi to find her smiling.

"You know, this would happen a lot to me. The beatings, but I kept hopeful. Then Sensei finally tried to help me, and Ayame, and I finally thought I'd found human kindness. Then yesterday I lost it all over again. You wouldn't shut up until you made me feel as worthless as possible. I'd finally lost all faith in humanity. But then I decided, I wouldn't return home to a drunken father again, and I wouldn't have to come back to school to face BITCHES like you!"

She reached into her bag and pulled out a knife. She ran at Brooke, about to strike. Someone pulled Brooke out of the way just in time, causing Vivi to strike the desk instead, thought Vivi managed to pull the knife out. The pupils scattered to the outskirts of the classroom, as far away from Vivi as possible.

"HOLY SHIT! Is that a butcher's knife?" Frankie screamed.

"Vivi, whatever you're plan is, trying to kill Brooke will not solve your problems..." Ayame began.

"Oh yeah? SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU BEEN SO PERFECT?" She charged at Ayame, brandishing her knife. Ayame, surprised, raised her hands in defence, knowing it probably wouldn't help, but suddenly felt a force to her side. She yelped as she was pushed against the wall by Kakashi(who seemed to appear out of nowhere), taking the blow. As people rushed to see if Ayame was ok, he jumped out into the corridor, followed out by Vivi. He dodged her attack, as she hit the wall. Kakashi started going blurry-eyed, which broke his concentration, letting himself get hit on the shoulder. Kakashi caught her wrist before she struck again. She stared, wide-eyed.

'Once again I was too late. She finally snapped.'

"Oh my God...I've lost my mind..." Vivi collapsed to her knees, bringing Kakashi down with her.

"You're bleeding. Sensei, I've hurt you." She looked up, quivering.

"It's okay just...just let go of the knife, okay?" Kakashi stared, wide-eyed and trying to catch his breath.

"I'm..." Her eyes began to well with tears. "I'm sorry." She dropped the knife. Kakashi sighed and let go of her wrist.

"I'm a horrible person." she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him as she let her tears soak into his shirt.

"You're not. It's my fault. I should have paid more attention." Kakashi hesitantly returned the hug.

"Ami! You okay?" Nathan and her friends ran over to Ayame.

"Yeah, I'm fine, maybe the odd bruise here or there, but... what happened anyway?" Ayame asked.

"Sensei pushed you out of the way and took the blow-" Theo was interrupted by Ayame.

"Kakashi!" she got up and pushed her way through the doorway.

Kakashi was starting to lose focus. He felt a warm, tickling sensation slowly making it's way down his face. Hina almost fainted. She couldn't stand the sight of blood. Brooke then ran out of the corridor, and almost exploded at what she saw.

"Get away from him you-"

"Brooke..." Kakashi interrupted.

"Hm?" Brooke replied.

"Just...just..."

"Stop it," Ayame finished off his sentence, "You've already done enough damage." She looked back at Kakashi, who raised and eyebrow and put on a sort of smirk.

Both the police and ambulance arrived, Kakashi had collapsed and the ambulance took him to the hospital and Vivi as arrested. Kakashi received a lot of visitors at the hospital, Ayame, Nathan, Sarah and Hina included.

"So, how is he?" Ayame asked the nurse, worried.

"He's...fine. Fairly minor injuries. Quite shallow wounds, should be healed in no time. Funny, anywhere else and it would've been way more serious." The nurse said matter-of-factly.

"What? But his head was bleeding!" Nathan exclaimed.

"Well what can I say? The guy sure knows where to get hit." The nurse commented.

"But he collapsed!" Sarah said, dumbfounded.

"Oh right. Now that's the crazy part. He collapsed from exhaustion." The four stared, puzzled.

"He's an insomniac. He hadn't slept in about eight or nine days. I'm surprised he's even alive! I don't think I've ever heard of anyone lasting that long, well, apart from on House. God I love House." The nurse trailed off.

"Wow, so can we see him?" Ayame asked.

"Well we let him sleep here, he's on medication, he'll be unconscious for a while, but sure, you're welcome to see him if you want." She lead them to where Kakashi was staying, then left them.

Ayame went over to Kakashi's bedside. She looked intently at the delicate scar running across his left eye.

'Strange, he looks so peaceful. I don't think I've ever seen him like this.'

"Uh, yeah, Kakashi, we thought we'd come over, see how you're doing, stuff." Ayame saw Kakashi smirk slightly.

"I can't hear you. I'm asleep, not in a coma." The four children freaked.

"How long have you been awake?" Sarah asked.

"A couple hours."

"But you're on medication! You're not supposed to wake up for ages!!" Ayame exclaimed.

"Eight hours? Hm."

"You should be in bed! I mean asleep, I mean-" Ayame said, struggling for words. There was a short silence.

"I brought fruit." She said at last, holding up a basket.

"Thanks." Kakashi replied.

"My mom says get well soon. And thanks, you...kinda saved my life earlier."

"Don't worry. It's my job." Kakashi smiled.

"What?" Ayame questioned.

"Uh..." The nurse appeared with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Oh, you're awake. You have a visitor?"

A familiar blonde haired, angry woman stepped into the room. Ayame could see Kakashi tense up, and began to wonder why.

"Uh...Tsunade-sama...What brings you all the way here?" Kakashi swallowed.

"Hey brat, I heard what happened and I came to check up on you."

"Oh, great." He said almost sarcastically.

"Anyway, can I talk to you alone for a sec?" Tsunade asked, nodding her head in the direction of the his pupils. They left, leaving Tsunade alone with Kakashi.

"You seem to be very popular." Tsunade said, looking at the many gifts surrounding Kakashi.

"I hate hospitals." Kakashi deadpanned.

"I know, I know. Anyway..." Tsunade brought out a piece of paper. "I was going through the photos you sent Naruto, and I couldn't help but notice this here..." She held up a photo of Kakashi smiling in a photo with Deidara and Sasori.

"Oh, yeah guess I forgot to leave that out-"

"Kakashi this is serious! I need to know." Tsunade leaned forward.

"Are you with us or against us?"

"Of course I'm with you-" Kakashi was interrupted.

"See? I don't even know if I should believe you!" Tsunade almost yelled.

"Then why'd you ask me? And you know I'm not lying because you know me." Kakashi leaned forward this time.

"I know you're a good liar." Tsunade commented.

"But nevertheless..." Kakashi smiled, "You know me. They're not here on official Akatsuki business, and they didn't even know I was here."

"But still, you can't trust them, and you should have told me!" Tsunade complained.

"Still, Konoha needs the money right now. And I won't lie, I do kinda like them. But I know what I need to do. You just need to trust me."

Tsunade sighed. "Fine, but I'm sending reinforcements just incase you need them. Oh, and..." Tsunade gave Kakashi a packet of something.

You should find it easier to sleep with these. Only for a short while though, or you'll start relying on it.

Vivi slowly opened her eyes. It took her a while to realize that she was in a hospital. She tried to raise a hand to her head, but then realized that she was handcuffed to her bed. She saw a figure by her bed, and looked up to find Kakashi.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" Kakashi asked.

"Sensei...Why are you here? I...I thought you'd hate me." Vivi looked down.

"It's not all you're fault. I should have paid attention to you. So what's going to happen?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, my court case will be on Monday,"Vivi explained.

"Which I'll probably be attending. For now I just suggest you fully cooperate and do exactly what you're told. You'll be better off that way."

Vivi nodded. "I can't believe what I did. I could have killed someone!" Vivi looked down. Kakashi winced at the fact that she was obsessing about something he did everyday. He felt strange, almost guilty but...not.

"Just...just stop worrying about it. No one was hurt in the end, ok?" Kakashi said, almost sounding panicky. "I'll see you soon." He gave a quick smile, then rushed out.

**Yes. I wrote this chapter because I love you. read and review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:****Yeah I know last chapter was a bit extreme. Sorry about that. Ehe...Ehehe...ehehehehe...**

Episode 6 -

"_I can't believe what I did. I could have killed someone!" Vivi looked down. Kakashi winced at the fact that she was obsessing over something he did everyday. He felt strange, almost guilty but...not._

"_Just...just stop worrying about it. No one was hurt in the end, ok?" Kakashi said, almost sounding panicky. "I'll see you soon." He gave a quick smile, then rushed out._

Ayame walked in to the classroom, early as usual, and set her bag down on top of her desk. She then looked towards the teacher's desk, and found it lacking Kakashi.

"That's strange. No Kakashi." Ayame drawled. She then turned around , to find Kakashi right behind her holding a staple gun.

"AH! Kakashi! Don't do that! I was so scared!" Ayame practically screamed.

"Oh, sorry. I thought I heard you say my name." Kakashi said, disingenuously. Ayame blushed slightly.

"Uh, no, I was just wondering why you weren't at the teacher's desk, you know, like normal."

"Oh! I was just putting up some stuff for the display board." Kakashi said, perking up.

"Ah, hence the staple gun?" Ayame suggested.

"Hence the staple gun." Kakashi confirmed.

Ayame and Kakashi stayed in comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Ayame asked, "So, do you know what's happening to Vivi?"

"She'll be fine. I spoke to her later, and she told me everything, so her parents were arrested, she'll have to go to a psychiatric ward for a while, but she'll be free fairly soon depending on her progress." Kakashi smiled. He then walked over to sit behind the teacher's desk.

"I'm happy she managed to talk to me in the end, but I would be happier if she spoke to me sooner."

"And how are you?" Ayame asked.

"Hm? I'm fine, thankyou, why do you ask?"

"Well the nurse told us about your sleep problem, and well, not that I told anyone, but the whole school probably knows now, so sorry if you wanted to keep that under wraps." Ayame tilted her head to the side.

"Haha, I think it'll be okay." Kakashi laughed.

"Hm, and will you be coming over tomorrow for your lesson?" He asked just as Ayame's friends were entering the room.

"What? You know what happened wasn't all that long ago. Are you sure you don't want some rest or something? Maybe even an early night-" She stopped when she saw Kakashi giving her one of those looks again.

"Oh yeah. I forgot. Well, I'll be there," she said, about to turn when Kakashi suddenly reached forward and grabbed her wrist, pulling her down with him under the desk, hearing a faint shattering of glass in the background. Ayame yelped as they landed in a heap on the floor.

"Kakashi what the-" She was about to go on but she realized he wasn't listening, just staring up. She looked up to see bullet hole in the wall, and her expression changed from confusion to surprise. Her friends looked to see a glimpse of a shadowy figure in the next building before it escaped.

"Was that a sniper?" Nathan exclaimed.

"Oh, so once again you save my life." Ayame said looking at Kakashi, their bodies in a very awkward position and their faces dangerously close. Ayame didn't seem to notice though as she normally would, as she seemed distracted by something else.

"Well, that's apparently what I'm here for." He looked back down at Ayame.

"Kakashi..." Ayame drawled.

"Hm?" Kakashi replied.

"Kakashi, your eye..." she stared at the whirling black marks around his pupil.

"What?" he replied, confused but smiling at the same time. He soon realized what she was talking about and went into immediate shock, practically throwing her off of him as he rushed to the exit, covering his eye. He turned round briefly, saying, "It's nothing, just forget about it," laughing nervously before hurrying out.

"What was that all about?" Theo asked, in shock like the rest of the people in the room.

"I have no idea." Ayame said, clambering onto the desk, looking dumbfounded.

"Who was that bullet for, that's what I want to know." Richmond put his hands on his hips.

"Me probably. My father and I have been getting death threats lately. We phoned the police and they say they're taking care of it. But...I didn't tell you guys earlier because I didn't want you to worry, I guess." Ayame confessed.

"Wow." was all Nathan managed to spit out.

"But I don't want to talk about this now."

"Well it's probably the closest yet you've gotten to Sensei." Sarah smiled. Ayame hadn't noticed, so she had to think awhile, but then blushed madly, to the amusement of her peers.

"Come on, go back already..." Kakashi commanded his eye. He had been given a contact lens by Tsunade, not to make it look completely normal, but at least get rid of the marks of the sharingan. The only thing was, when he used it, it reverted back to normal.

"That was close. I hope she doesn't mention it later. What will I say?"

"What's the matter? Our girl catch you 'in the nude', so to speak?" Deidara appeared next to Kakashi.

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that, but essentially." Kakashi replied.

"Ah, I see." Sasori nodded.

"There was a sniper." Kakashi explained.

"Oh, so these people really mean business now?" Sasori asked.

"Yes. They mean business."

Kakashi was marking some books in the teachers lounge, while drinking a cup of coffee at the same time.

"Hey." he heard a voice and turned to see Miss Haart, another young English teacher.

"Hilary, Hi." He smiled.

"I read that book you suggested. It was surprisingly good!" she smiled, her auburn hair slowly slipping out of her pony tail. Deidara and Sasori turned their heads suspiciously at the mention of the book.

"Really?" Kakashi beamed.

"Yes! I mean, who knew a book called 'Three Men in a Boat' would be so funny?" they laughed for a second.

"Well I'm glad you liked it..." Kakashi smiled, Deidara and Sasori turning back round. "Hey, I was wondering if you were free any time this week. Maybe we could go out and get a bite to eat if you like." Kakashi offered. Miss East blushed slightly.

"What, like, a date?" she asked, hopeful.

'A date? That's perfect! Maybe then my fangirls will lay off slightly. I mean, she's only what, three or four years older than me, and she's quite pretty...' Kakashi thought.

"Yes, of course. A date." Kakashi smirked slightly, a look that made any woman (Miss East mainly) Melt.

"Well, actually, I'm not doing anything tonight, and I'm pretty ahead on my marking. How about we meet up at about eight?" Miss East suggested.

"Perfect."

It was the end of the day, and Ayame was walking home, when she heard the sound of heels clicking on the pavement. She looked behind her to see Miss East.

"Ah, Miss East. You look cheery." Ayame smiled.

"Do I?" She practically giggled. "Well, it's just that someone asked me out today. Sorry, I just had to tell someone!" Miss East beamed.

"Ah, today. So someone in the school?" Ayame asked. Miss East frowned.

"Okay, don't tell everyone but it's Kakashi. Bye!" she went over to her car and opened it stepping inside. She then drove off, leaving Ayame in both shock and dismay.

Kakashi met up with Deidara and Sasori at school the next morning.

"So, How'd it go?" Deidara asked, inquiring about the date.

"Um..."

"_Wow, Kakashi, this place is so nice!" Hilary exclaimed. "Where do you come across places like this?" Her maroon eyes lit up by the candlelight._

"_I guess I'm just lucky." Kakashi said, sounding more bitter and sarcastic than anything._

"_Well anyway, I want to know a bit more about you, so, I always wanted to know, what is that book you're always reading?" she asked._

"_Oh, it's just some smutty book." Kakashi answered. Hilary laughed._

"_Yeah, right. You wouldn't take something like that into a high school."_

"_You'd be surprised." Kakashi smiled._

"_No, no. You're one of those 'nice guys' that everyone likes," Hilary said, not realizing just how wrong she was, "What are you going to tell me next, that you're also a mass murderer who kills thousands everyday?" Hilary joked. Kakashi winced slightly, not that Hilary noticed._

"_I wouldn't put it like that." Kakashi said, laughing nervously._

"_Are you always this difficult? Boy, I'll bet your father had a hard time raising you!" Hilary giggled. Kakashi looked down, sort of smiling and gave a short, sharp breath of laughter._

"_My father..." He looked up, half smiling, half grimacing, "He committed suicide when I was fairly young."_

_Hilary stared, dumbfounded, "Oh my gosh, Kakashi I am so sorry!"_

"_It's alright, really." Kakashi replied, smiling._

"_I had no idea! I mean, you're mother must have been heartbroken!" Hilary tried to redeem herself. Kakashi laughed._

"_Um, you're not gonna believe this, my mother was murdered some time before that."_

_There was a long silence, as Hilary downed her glass of wine all in one._

"Yeah, we both decided it was a mistake." Kakashi laughed nervously.

Ayame's friends soon arrived after that. Ayame arrived shortly later, and went straight to her desk and began to mingle with her friends. The door suddenly burst open, startling most of the people in the room.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" was heard from the doorway, as Kakashi, Deidara and Sasori yelled in unison "NO WAY IN HELL!"

The figure revealed itself to be a tall man with huge eyebrows and a bowl cut, wearing a green spandex jumpsuit and orange leggings.

"KAKASHI! MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Everyone stared at Kakashi with looks that said, 'you know this creep?' Kakashi twitched slightly at the eyesore, as Gai continued.

"Kakashi! You have missed several of our weekly challenges by partaking in this mission! And I'll have you know it's my turn to choose what to do this week!"

"Ugh, but Gai, we all know you're way better at skipping or mango-eating than me. Is there anything else to be proved from these challenges?" Kakashi slurred, earning a few sniggers.

"ARGH! Kakashi! Why are you always so cool!? You may be cool, BUT I HAVE YOUTH! I AM BY FAR THE MOST YOUTHFUL OUT OF THE TWO OF US!" Gai pointed at Kakashi, who was once again reading his book.

"...Did you say something?" He said, looking up.

"NOOO! YOU ARE FAR TOO COOL FOR ME!!!" and Gai left with a dynamic exit, forgetting what he actually came to say.

Ayame knocked on Kakashi's door. It opened, revealing Kakashi on the other side, holding two cups of tea, causing Ayame to wonder how Kakashi could open the door with his hands full.

"Hey!" He chirped. "Tea?" Kakashi offered.

"No, you don't have to put yourself through the trouble-" Ayame then realized that he was holding her ready-made cup, and took it, with a small "Thanks."

They went over source analysis for the duration of the lesson, and after an hour and a half it was time to leave.

"I think we can spend at least another lesson on that, but you're making great progress. I'll see you tomorrow!" He said, sounding unusually happy.

"Bye." Ayame said, as the door was shut. Kakashi leant against the door on the other side.

"So, how's our girl Ayame?" Deidara asked.

Ayame was about to walk away, when she heard her name mentioned.

'They're talking about me? That's it, I must know what he thinks of me.'Ayame thought. She looked around, and then pressed her ear to her door.

"She's fine. She's a good learner, so I find I don't really have to put in too much effort to get something stuck in her head." Kakashi smiled.

"Hey, Kakashi, I know this is a direct question, but do _you_ like her?" Sasori asked bluntly.

"Well, she is bright, very bright..." He smirked, knowing she was on the other side. She smiled slightly as the remark.

"I like her as much as a teacher **could **like a student, but I wouldn't say we were friends. But if you mean the other 'like', then no. I don't think of her that way." His expression suddenly turned serious, as did hers.

"I knew it." Ayame whispered to herself, before turning and walking away. "All that false hope the others gave me..."


	7. Chapter 7

Episode 7 -

"_I like her as much as a teacher __**could **__like a student. But if you mean the other 'like', then no. I don't think of her that way." His expression suddenly turned serious, as did hers. _

"_I knew it." Ayame whispered to herself, before turning and walking away. "All that false hope the others gave me..."_

**A/N:**** *gasp* Oh no! what will happen? Will Ayame give up? Will Kakashi find the sniper? Will Dei or Sasori finally turn on Kakashi? Agh! The suspense! THE DRAMA!!!**

**I do not own naruto. Kaythanks  
**

Over the next few days, Ayame didn't talk to Kakashi as much, and didn't come early to class anymore, as she was trying to avoid Kakashi whenever possible, and didn't contribute to history class nearly as much as she had been doing recently. Ayame's friends decided to have a meeting in the library after school.

"Ami, what's happening? It's like you've completely given up!" Sarah exclaimed.

"There was no point. There's no chance of him ever liking me and you guys knew that. You should have just told it to me straight." Ayame moaned.

"What? Ami did something happen?" Hina asked, worried.

"I heard him say it. He doesn't like me." Ayame said, sounding upset.

"Aw, Ami I'm so sorry-"

"Whatever. I don't wanna talk about him anymore. I'll see you guys later. I left my pencil case in the classroom." She walked away.

She opened the door to her homeroom to find Kakashi marking some work. He looked up surprised, and stood up as soon as he caught sight of her. Ayame turned ready to go out again.

"Wait, Ayame." Kakashi called. Ayame sighed, and turned around, closing the door behind her.

'Seems there's no getting out of this one.' she thought.

"Can I help you?" she said, bitterly.

"I'm concerned, about your history and work in general. It's like you've completely given up. You're even worse than you were at the beginning of term." Kakashi said, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I can't help it okay? I'm trying my best." Ayame said annoyed.

"You're not trying your best." Kakashi said, sounding fed up.

"Oh, so what you just dragged me back so you could insult me?" Ayame said, rather ticked off. This really tried Kakashi's patience.

"I'm not insulting you, you're just not listen-" Kakashi's annoyed rant was interrupted by Ayame turning round and opening the door. It however was immediately shut by a hand coming from behind her. Ayame then turned around, looking for another escape route, but Kakashi had trapped her against the wall with an arm on either side.

"Listen to me!" Kakashi said, almost shouting, "God, you're being such a spoilt brat!" he spat out, causing her to wince slightly, both at the harsh words and the intensity in his eyes.

"It's not-" He paused, realizing that he was shouting, and then started again.

"It's not just that." He said in a low rumble, looking down, "You're not contributing to class as much, you're homework's a mess, you're not coming in early anymore," Ayame stared at Kakashi as his reasons seemed to get more and more personal, "you're not talking to me as much and you barely even look at me anymore, which begs the question: Have you lost interest in me?" Kakashi looked up, looking more forlorn than anything. Ayame's eyes stayed as wide as possible, as she was afraid she was going to cry if she blinked. He moved his head in closer, almost whispering, "Have you?"

Suddenly the door opened, sending Ayame flying and causing her to violently bump heads with Kakashi. They both fell back and landed in different spots on the floor. The headmaster appeared, looking down at the two heaps on the floor, and asking, "Was that my fault?"

"Yes, it was." Kakashi replied.

"Oh. Then perhaps I'd better leave."

"Yes. Perhaps you better had." Kakashi once again replied. The headmaster left. Kakashi sat up groaning and rubbing his head. Ayame tried to get infront of Kakashi and ended up unwittingly straddling him. She brought her hand up to his forehead, where her own head had left a bruise.

"I'm sorry..." Ayame said, brought to tears, "I'll try harder from now on, it's just that you...you..." Ayame couldn't stop tears from falling.

"You do these things to people, you...and you say things, and you don't know it affects people-"

"I'm sorry, Ayame, please, just don't cry." Kakashi said, wiping the small tears from under her eyes.

"I'm not crying anymore," she looked up, "But do you know how I feel about you?"

Kakashi paused, "Yes."

"And do you feel the same way?"

"...yes." he sighed.

"Good." Ayame mumbled, cupping his face in her hands. She leaned in closer until their lips, finally, met, and they were left in silence, kissing sweetly.

There was a knock on the door. Kakashi sauntered over to answer it. He opened it to find Ayame, practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

"And why are you so happy?" Kakashi asked, holding out a cup of tea. Ayame took it as she bounced into the room.

"Wow, Kakashi you place is always so clean, I wish you lived in my house..."

"Well..." he drawled.

"Oh, right. It's my birthday today!" Ayame chirped.

"Eh? It is?" Kakashi looked surprised, "No one said anything."

"Yeah, that's cause they're throwing a surprise birthday party for me when I get back. There was this huge cake on the table this morning, and I asked my mum what it was for, she said, 'It's just for a change.' she's really bad at keeping secrets." Ayame grinned.

"Ironic..." Kakashi mumbled.

"Oh. Oh, and I can't help but notice, I don't think I've gotten a present from you yet." Ayame smirked.

"I didn't know!" Kakashi raised his hands in mock defence.

"Yeah, sure. So what, you have nothing for me? How pathetic." she mocked Kakashi.

"Oh, I'm pathetic am I? Oh well, you're probably right." Kakashi sat down on the sofa.

"Hm. Wait, what?" Ayame asked.

"What? Nothing. You look nice today." Kakashi opened his beloved Icha-Icha.

"B...No witty comeback or snide remark about how at least you have a life and I have nothing to do so I end up stuck doing boring history lessons with my perverted sensei?" Ayame said, slightly panicking.

"Mm...Nope." Kakashi smiled.

"B...But...It's not..." Ayame stuttered. Kakashi stood up and walked over to Ayame.

"It's eating you up inside, isn't it?" he pulled her in closer to him.

"What?" Ayame stared, confused.

"Hm, and to think you were so cocky a minute ago." he smirked.

"Anyway, I believe we have a lesson today?" He sat back down on the sofa, gesturing for her to sit next to him. All she could manage was "Eaugh." before sitting down next to Kakashi.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, Ayame," Kakashi began, "I'm pleased your back on top of your work. From now on, I'm gonna teach you so that by the time your teacher moves on to that topic, you'll already know pretty much everything about it.

"So...You're going to teach me...before you can teach me?"

"As far as you're studies are concerned, myself and I are two completely different people."

"Yes, but as far as everything else is concerned," she wrapped her arms around him and looked up into his mismatched eyes, "You're just Kakashi."

Kakashi smirked. Ayame took a deep breath, letting the scent of pine rush through her nose.

"Kakashi?" Ayame asked.

"Hm?"

"If you knew how I felt, and you felt the same way, why didn't you let me know?"

Kakashi smiled, bringing a hand up and running his fingers through her hair.

"I guess I thought I could resist you," Kakashi's deep voice sent a shiver down Ayame's spine.

"Well, you go to your party," Kakashi regretfully slipped out of Ayame's grasp and opened the door, "Enjoy it, have fun etc... I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye."


	8. Chapter 8

Episode 8-

It was early in the morning. A man in his mid-thirties, with short, spiky brown hair walked through the dimly lit streets, holding a conspicuous metal briefcase.

"Karl Linus?" A deep voice erupted from the silence. Startled, the man turned to his right to see a familiar silver-haired jounin wearing a strange animal mask, a cat to be precise, resting against the wall in a cool, collected manner.  
"How do you know my name? Are you with the police?" Karl narrowed his eyes.  
"No. So you're the one they call 'Hit and Miss?'" Kakashi asked in a mocking tone.  
"WHAT? Who's been calling me that? Just who the heck are you anyway? I'm the sharpest shooter around and everyone knows that!" Karl fumed.  
"Oh no one's been saying that. I just concluded that after seeing your poor shot on Sasaki Ayame last week." Kakashi smirked.

"Wha- You bastard!" Karl brandished his metal case and charged at Kakashi. He tried to aim the case at Kakashi's face, however he ducked, causing the case to smash into a wall. Kakashi kicked him in the solar plexus, causing Karl to keel over in pain.

-_-_-_-__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Ayame was just about the grumpiest thing in the world right about now, sitting, grumpily drawing on her desk.

"I dunno about you, but where I'm from, vandalism is a crime." Kakashi said, standing over Ayame's desk.  
"Hm? What's that all about?" Kakashi asked, gesturing towards the strange bracelet tightly bound around her wrist.  
"Electronic tag..." Ayame mumbled.  
"Keh? Like the one's those criminals wear?" Kakashi grinned.  
"It's so the police always know where I am. After that sniper incident..."  
'So the police always know where she is...that means my client too.'  
Ayame was suddenly reminded of Kakashi rushing out soon after, and his eye. She was about to ask him about it, but Kakashi quickly changed the subject.

"So..." he crouched down, almost whispering for some reason, "How'd you're surprise party go?" he smiled.  
"Ugh. Don't talk to me about surprise parties."  
"...Not well then."  
"Well, Mom wasn't lying. The cake actually was just for a change."  
"What so you mean...everybody actually DID forget your birthday?" Ayame nodded. "And you were so sure it was a surprise?" She once again nodded.  
"Hm." Kakashi stood up and turned around.  
"Hm? HM? 'HM' IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY- wait a sec..." Ayame paused when she heard faint traces of a breathy laugh. "Are you laughing at me?"  
"Nhmm." Ayame could see Kakashi literally shaking with laughter, trying to hold it back.  
"Kakashi-" Kakashi dropped his head in submission, "I'm sorry," he said, in a shaky voice.  
"You are laughing!" Ayame frowned.  
Kakashi turned around, putting up his hands in mock defence. "No, I'm not, it's just..." Kakashi couldn't stop himself from laughing, even though he knew he would somehow pay for it later.

The door then opened, and Ayame's friends walked in, surprised that the first thing they saw was Ayame angrily yelling at a laughing Sensei. Kakashi caught sight of them and immediately turned away, still laughing, and leaning on his desk for support.

"Having fun then?" Theo asked. Ayame shot him a death glare. She got up and walked towards him in a VERY scary manner.

"No, I am NOT having fun, thankyou very much." Theo looked at her dumbfounded. "Don't look at me like you've done nothing wrong! You think it's acceptable to just forget you're best friends birthday?" Ayame fumed.  
"Oh, Oh god, Ayame, we're so sorry..."  
"DON'T wanna hear it. You should've known!"  
"Well you didn't say anything..." Sarah began.  
"Yeah, I thought you'd be throwing me a surprise or something!" Ayame yelled, looking deeply hurt.  
"Aww, Ayame, we're sorry.." Ayame was soon found squirming in the middle of a group hug.  
"Fine. FINE! I forgive you. Just stop with the love, 'kay?"

"So, what was Sensei in such a state for?" Hina asked at breaktime, at the cantine.  
"He was laughing at my demise." Ayame narrowed her eyes. She ordered a cup of coffee and began to walk back to the classroom.  
'That damn Kakashi! Who does he think he is?'  
Suddenly, she violently collided with something. She found herself about to get intimate with the cold plastic floor, when she felt a hand grab her wrist, pulling her back up.  
"Thanks." She said, walking on.  
"Wait, Ami!"  
"What is it?" Ayame stopped dramatically, turning her head slightly so that her profile was facing the one who spoke.  
"I just haven't seen you in a while."  
Ayame raised an eyebrow, turning to face whoever was speaking to her.  
"You look nice." a boy with black hair and blue highlights, wearing black skinny jeans and a leather jacket, said.  
"Well, you always look nice, but you look even nicer...like you've changed or something."  
Ayame sighed, "Greg. Just the person I didn't want to see. What do you want? I thought you're suspended for another week."  
"Who's Greg?" Richmond asked Nathan.  
"Ayame's ex boyfriend. He's a dick. I don't even know why they were together in the first place." Nathan replied.  
"The principal said I could join now if I was good. I just wanted to ask your forgiveness. I know I was an arsehole towards the end of our relationship, but I've changed now, and I'll prove it to you if you take me back." Greg said, moving closer to Ayame. This had attracted the attention of many passing by, as Greg and Ayame were a fairly popular couple last year.  
Ayame smirked. "Greg, the reason I ever went out with you in the first place is because I thought you weren't all shallow and brain-dead as the other guys there. But it turns out you're just as brainless as the rest of them."  
"Come on, Ami, maybe just a drink or something first? I mean it's not like you'll ever get any other offers..." Greg tried to persuade Ayame.  
"You what now?" If Ayame wasn't furious before, she sure as hellfire was now. She grabbed Greg by the collar and pinned him against the wall.  
"What? I'm so unattractive that no guy will go for me except you, so I should take the opportunity while it lasts, is that what you're saying? You know I could already have a boyfriend, why would you assume I wouldn't? Eh? Eh?" Ayame threatened him.

"Maah- What's this? A lover's quarrel?" Kakashi seemingly appeared out of nowhere, his eyes glued to his book.  
"Well I guess you could say that-" Greg was cut off by Ayame's cries of exasperation.  
"WE'RE NOT LOVERS!" when she realized who she was talking to, she shot him a look that said, 'You of all people should know that!'  
"Hmm, whatever~" he sang, "I suggest you let him go before you cut of his air supply and kill him and I will have to give you a detention~"  
Ayame reluctantly let go of Greg.  
"You're a teacher here?" Greg asked, surprised.  
"Yes. Hatake Kakashi. I teach History."  
"Oh. Wow. Greg Baker," Greg offered his hand.  
"Mm, I don't think so. I don't know where you've been." Kakashi said rather coolly. Ayame glared at him.  
"Anyway, I suggest everyone start heading towards their next lessons. The bell should be ringing shortly." Kakashi nodded.  
"But Sensei," Ayame interrupted, "History's next, and we always spend the first fifteen minutes doing nothing because you're always late, so..."  
"Fourteen minutes and fifty seconds. Accuracy not quite up to the mark, eh?"  
"Well-" Ayame's train of thought was immediately halted by the slight flash in Kakashi's eyes, as the flicker of a smile was detected for a split second, but went away the next. For the next few seconds, she was caught staring open-mouthed into Kakashi's contrasting eyes, until she realized she was spacing out.  
"Gargh! I HATE YOU!" She ran childishly to the history classroom.  
Echoes of surprise were heard from the crowd, such as, 'Ami lost her cool?' and 'That's never happened before!'.  
"What was all that about?" Kakashi asked Sarah.  
"Dunno. Maybe it's that time of the month..." She replied. Kakashi sweatdropped.  
"Don't talk to me about such things..." Kakashi sighed.

Mismatched eyes stared down the pupils wearing matching green army hats.  
"Now, the First World War is one of those things that can be really hard to understand if you don't try hard enough. Now, How's about a little role play?" Kakashi said, dressed up in full army general attire. Ayame sweatdropped. 'Even the little pointer. He sure is dedicated to making his lessons fun.'  
"So here's how the game works: If you do not do what I ask to a satisfactory standard, you die."  
"Aw, but that's hardly fair!" a voice at the back called.  
"Hey, this is how Hitler woulda done it. And the last one alive gets a special reward from me. So, Austria has declared war on Russia. I am the leader of this German army, and I have decided to invade France, now, considering three factors: The triple entente between which countries, Franky?"  
"Uh, England, Ireland and Scotland." Franky answered.  
"You're dead." Kakashi deadpanned.  
"Yeah, you idiot. That's not the Triple Entente, that's Great Britain!" Tony laughed.  
"It's not even that. Ireland is not in Britain. It's republic. Wales is." Kakashi made a gun with his thumb and index finger and pretended to shoot Tony. "Brooke, you know the answer?"  
"It was England, France and Russia." Brook said smugly, shooting Ayame a quick smirk.  
"Ah, well done," Kakashi beamed, "Now, the second factor is that Russia would take an estimated how many weeks to assemble? Gina."  
"Uh, I dunno." Gina admitted.  
"Bang. You're dead. Anyone else?"  
"6 weeks." Ayame was growing slightly irritated at Brooke's I'm-better-than-you-cause-I-answered-a-question-and-you-didn't looks.  
"Good, good...and now can anyone tell me what the third factor would have been? We went through this before, so now we'll see just who has and hasn't been listening in my class." Kakashi smirked an evil smirk.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soon afterwards, Brooke and Ayame were the only people left alive, and competing so fiercely even Kakashi could see it.  
"It's Paris." Ayame answered Kakashi's next question. Kakashi beamed.  
'Heh, I've never had two females fighting over me before. Especially not in a history type setting. Makes me feel kinda special...' Kakashi thought.  
'Hina senses there's more to this than History...' Hina thought. 'Perhaps this is...A battle of love?'  
"Final question...Now that we've established three factors, what would be the best way to invade France? You may take into account what actually happened if you wish."

There was a long pause, and the two girls thought a while as their classmates cheered on their favourite candidate to win.

"KAKASHI-KUN!" Ayame stood up.  
"Yees~" Kakashi replied lovingly, not that anyone would have noticed.  
"I have an answer!" Ayame stated matter-of-factly.  
"Brooke you were walking in the trenches one day and accidentally stepped on a landmine. You're dead." A chorus of disappointing sighs were heard around the room.  
"Now, Ayame, if you get this question right, you win." Kakashi said slowly. Ayame took a deep breath, shutting out the cries of encouragement by her fellow piers. "Send in the german troops to invade through Belgium to get to Paris. Meanwhile send the submarines and warships to the coast to try and prevent any interference with the British." Ayame remained stiff during the tense silence that lasted almost forever.  
"Ah..." Kakashi slurred. "Hm, yes, but what about Russia? It's called Triple Entente for a reason. Baka baka..." Ayame looked shocked and disappointed.  
"Well, it looks like no one stayed alive OR managed to win my amazing prize."

"WHAT?" A voice at the back called out. "There was no right answer to that question! You didn't intend to give anything to anyone! I bet you didn't even buy a prize!"

"Of course I did! It's..." he looked at his pointer, "This stick thing."

"No one wants a useless metal stick!" The same voice called angrily.  
"Well, it's a good thing no one got it, isn't it?" Kakashi nodded.

"Curse you and your way with words, Sensei!!"

The bell rang. "Ooh, lunch time. I'll see who I see at form time. Eat well!" Kakashi waved, walking out the door.  
"Wow, Sensei sure looks good as a german army general..." Ayame heard two girls whisper behind her.  
"Shut up..." Ayame grumbled.

Ayame walked into the library, and went to the cookery section, the very last shelf.  
"Hello there." Ayame looked up to see Kakashi leaning against the wall.  
"You. Why are you here?" Ayame fumed.  
"Because there's never anyone else here." Kakashi replied.  
"Hmm.." Ayame sighed. "I needed a cookery book. I suck at making my own food and I'll never survive on my own unless I learn." Ayame shifted uncomfortably.  
"You know, you're being really mean to me today!" Ayame tried to keep her voice down.  
"Oh, you think so? Why is that?" Kakashi moved closer and put a hand on Ayame's head.  
"Aww, is it because you really wanted to win the metal stick thing?" Kakashi ruffled her hair.  
"That was just the icing on the cake. Trust me." Ayame said through clenched teeth. She suddenly turned very serious and swatted Kakashi's hand away.  
"Not only did you laugh about what happened at my birthday, but you deliberately made me freeze at break-time today, and you know you were doing it. Everyone's been talking about it. Now people either think that I'm affected by my ex-boyfriend coming back or that there's something going on between you and I!"  
"But...there is something going on between you and I." Kakashi retorted.  
"SHUT UP!"  
Kakashi put his hands on her shoulders and smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry I laughed Ayame, but to be honest, it was genuinely funny. And about the lunch hall, I really am sorry. I just wanted something that I could do but nobody else could. To claim you as mine and only mine."

'There are plenty of things you could do with me. You just haven't done 'em yet...' Ayame thought. "So mean..." Ayame mumbled.  
"What? Am I mean?" Kakashi slid his hands from her shoulders, down her arms, and grabbed hold of her hands.  
"Yahuh," Ayame replied.  
"Is your Sensei a cruel, heartless, selfish man?" Kakashi asked. Ayame nodded, looking down at the floor.  
'Well, two of the three...' Kakashi thought.  
"Aw, well I can't help that. Being around you makes me so. But..." Kakashi pulled her in closer, positioning his lips close to her ear, and whispered, "If it'll make you feel better, I might let you punish me..."  
Ayame then felt the quick flicker of a warm, moist tongue against her earlobe, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and her face turn from their usual colour to a bright shade of red.  
'He didn't just say that! That didn't just happen!' she thought. She stared down at the floor, wide-eyed. Kakashi simply put his hands on his hips and smirked in a smug manner. Without another word, he left, thinking, 'If she blushes that easily, she's in for a bit of a surprise...'

Ayame leaned against the wall, breathing rapidly.  
'I feel so hot and faint, it's crazy. Why'd he have to go and do something like that? And leave without saying anything, it drives a girl mad! He's such a ...He's so cool...' Ayame thought.

* * *

**A/N****: Hahaha, Greg Baker...**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am very sorry for not updating. It's just the end of term, so now I have no excuse for not updating. Oh yeah. Disclaimer : I Do not own anything apart from the stuff I own. Cheers. Bye.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Episode 9 - **

"Hey Ami." Ayame jumped at the sudden appearance of Greg. She was so flustered, she forgot that she was supposed to be mean to him.

"Oh. Hey, what are you doing here?" Ayame asked.

"I came to find you. I really want you to reconsider. Are you alright? You look really...um...what's the word....red." Greg soon caught sight of Kakashi walking away from the library, and then looked back at Ayame.

'Red, sweating, breathing heavily, ruffled hair, after that time in the cantine, if something wasn't up then, it sure is now.' Greg thought.

"Ayame, is anything troubling you?" Greg asked.

"What? No-"

"If anything is troubling you," Greg interrupted, "You can tell me."

Ayame suddenly had a thought. She composed herself, and pushed off of the wall.

'Punish my sensei, eh?'

"Alright, you wanna start over? How about we make a deal?" she smirked walking towards Greg and pinned him against the wall by his collar.

Ayame could hear an angelic voice inside her head saying, "Noo! Ayame you can't! You shouldn't take advantage of the young boy! He really likes you!"

'Yeah, but I gotta be bad sometimes, right? I mean, I got two men who want me, one already has me, and the other one is wrapped around my little finger. This opportunity doesn't come around very often. Kukukuku...."

"Punk Kakashi-kun. Real good." Ayame narrowed her eyes. "Then we'll talk." Ayame sauntered towards the exit.

"But now isn't he bound to put 2 and 2 together and get something fishy?" Ayame heard the angelic voice say.

'Yeah, but he has no proof, so all he can do is try to win me back. And Sensei won't be too happy about an ex trying to take his woman now, will he?

Yay! Two men fighting over me AND a secret forbidden romance between student and teacher, happening all at once! I can't believe my luck!'

"You're manufacturing a rivalry between men? You sick child."

'Shut up.'

"Well, There are no announcements for today, so I'd be-"

Form time was interrupted by the creak of the door. Greg shuffled into the classroom to whispers of, 'Wow, is it really Greg? I haven't seen him in so long! You think Ayame's back with him now?'

"Oh, um, can I help you?" Kakashi spoke with a gentle voice, unusual for him.

"Um, well since I wasn't here at the beginning of the year, I needed to choose a form, and, well, since you looked coolest, I decided to come here. Is that alright?" Greg asked, just able to mask his hatred for Kakashi, Kakashi doing likewise.

"Sorry, I forgot your name?"

"Just call me Sensei." Kakashi held out his hand, smiling. "And you are...Gregg's the Bakers **(****AN****:For Anyone British reading this, get it? Gregg's the bakers? Heh?)**?**"**

"Greg Baker." Greg laughed, taking his hand and shaking it, trying not to crush every bone in Kakashi's hand.

"Why don't you take a seat somewhere?" Kakashi suggested. Greg walked past Ayame in the process and waved to her. Ayame could have sworn she saw Kakashi twitch slightly as she waved back.

'Yes! The rivalry has already started!' Ayame thought.

"Am I the only one who sensed some sexual tension between Greg and Sensei?" Ayame heard a girl whisper behind her.

"Yeah, I don't think Sensei's ever this nice to anybody else!"

"Fools..." Ayame muttered.

"Anyway, as I was saying, you should spend this time doing any work that needs to be done. **Especially that history homework that I know you were set today.** Or even better, revise your history notes, as it is ever so clear to me after killing everyone, that you have definitely not been paying attention in class!" Kakashi continued. The people who didn't do History, Greg included, were very confused.

"We did a role-play," a girl leant over to explain. "It was really fun. Sensei's the best!"

"Aw, that's no fair, Sensei! You gave us really hard questions, you know!"

"I did not go beyond what will be in the exam!" Kakashi shook a fist.

"Is revising really necessary at this point anyway?" Ayame asked.

"I guess so, considering the fact that you died." Kakashi crossed his arms.

"You gave us a question to which there was no right answer! You weren't intending to give anyone your weird pointy metal stick thing!" Ayame retorted.

"Well It goes to show something doesn't it? I have the weird pointy metal stick thing because I am clearly the only one who listens to myself, and what's the _point_ in that? So you guys better buckle down, and prove to me that you can make it as a historian. Oh, and if your homework isn't completed to a satisfactory standard tomorrow...

...There _will _be blood." Kakashi flashed an evil smirk, making most of the girls in the room swoon.

"Um...Sensei?" Nathan asked.

"Ja!" Kakashi answered. There was a long silence.

"...Possibly taking the role of the german army general too far?"

Kakashi paused, then laughed sheepishly, ruffling Nathan's hair.

"Ehehehe, well I do like to get into these sorts of things..."

"Sensei? How come you shot everyone else just got shot and I stepped on a landmine in the trenches?" Brooke asked.

"Um, I guess you lasted longer, so deserved a more spectacular death." Kakashi smiled.

"Wow, how morbid. So what about me? You said I was dead, but you didn't say how." Ayame pointed out.

"Uagh, let's see. You were found out to be a Jew, so I took you to a Jewish death camp where you died a slow death by exhaustion." Kakashi replied.

"Gee, thanks Sensei." Ayame said sarcastically.

"Whatever. Do your work." Kakashi said. He took a sip out of his coffee, and then froze.

"Sensei, you alright..?" A girl asked.

"I'm fine, it's just...This coffee wasn't as salty when I left it..."

"Would you like a glass of water, Sensei?" Franky asked.

"Um...no-"

"I'll get you some water." Franky sauntered out of the classroom.

'Wait, no, he's not seriously going to _do_ that, is he?' Ayame thought as her eyes widened. 'Hm. I wonder how this'll turn out. It should be quite interesting to say the least...' Ayame looked down, covering up her smirk.

"You know something, don't you?" Ayame looked up to see Kakashi towering over her, sending her a deadly glare.

"What? No! I don't know anything! Infact I don't even know what you're talking about!" Ayame panicking under Kakashi's gaze, attracting the attention of many other of her peers.

"Ayame don't play dumb. Am I being...punked, perchance?" Kakashi asked smirking.

"Eh? No, I thought Franky was always that shady-looking and weird." Ayame said, pouting.

"No one said anything about Franky." Ayame froze, and slowly looked up to see Kakashi smirking face.

'Ah, Franky's busted.' was the thought in everyone's heads.

"Ah, Ayame's a really bad liar, huh? Kakashi's smirk turned into a soft smile, "Thanks, next time there's something I shouldn't know I'll ask you." He said, walking back to the desk.

"Wait!" Ayame called out. "What are you going to do?"

"Well it depends what he's got in store for me. What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"Hm? No way! I'm not talking to you! Heck I won't even look at you!" Ayame eyes stayed fixed to the wall.

"Rohypnol." No reaction.

"Razor blades." Still none.

"Tea?" Kakashi looked hopeful. There was still no reaction.

"More salt?" Everybody was thinking the same thing, 'Don't look into his eyes!'

"Aspirin?" Ayame glared at Kakashi, "What the...Are you stupid!?"

"Laxatives."

"No..." Ayame flinched slightly.

"Ah! So it's laxatives!" Kakashi rejoiced. Everyone else in the class facepalmed.

"So what was the salt for? Why didn't he just put the laxatives in the coffee? Would've saved all this trouble." Kakashi asked.

"That's what I was trying to tell them!" Ayame said to herself.

"Oh, so you were in on this too." Kakashi said, taking pleasure in watching Ayame squirm.

Franky entered the classroom, holding a cup of water. "Here you go, Sensei," he smiled.

"Oh, why thankyou." Kakashi took the cup of water, smiling. Franky stood by, as if expecting something as Kakashi was about to put the cup to his lips.

"Oh, You weren't here yesterday. I need the history homework in from two days ago. Can I have it now?" Kakashi informed.

"Ugh. Sure." Franky went over to his seat, got the history homework out of his bag, and gave it to Kakashi.

"Hn, thanks. Hey, aren't you thirsty?" Kakashi called out.

"What? What do you mean?" Franky asked.

"Well that's why you got this isn't it?" Kakashi smiled.

"Oh, you're right." Franky said, taking the water and drinking it. Everyone in the room froze, shocked.

"What the...Franky!!" Kakashi stared dumbfoundedly.

"What?"

"Well, I didn't think you'd actually _do it._ You are way more susceptible to the power of suggestion tan I thought..."

Franky paused. "SENSEI! You tricked me!"

"Hey, What can I say, karma's a bitch." Franky ran out of the door to get to the bathroom.

"Sensei, that was mean!" Franky's girlfriend said.

"Sorry, I guess it was. But then again, I had no idea that was going to happen." Kakashi sweatdropped.

The bell then rung.

"Ah~ time to go to your next lessons..." Kakashi said, waving as his students left the classroom, "Have fun! Study hard! Show everyone Kakashi's student's are the best!" he smiled.

Ayame poked her head out if the door, "Come on, Greg! I'm waiting for you."

"Oh, sorry." Greg hurried to the door, giving Kakashi a quick smirk as he left, as if he just won something against him.

"...I don't like that guy so much..." Kakashi concluded.

"Oh, Ami, can you help us out for a sec?" Sarah called Ayame over.

"Sure!" Ayame walked over to Sarah and Nathan.

"SIT!" Sarah tossed Ayame into a chair.

"And just what do you think you're doing with Greg?" Nathan asked.

"Hm? Nothing! We can talk without having to be together, right?" Ayame replied.

"In short, no. You know the whole school is talking about you. They think you're together." Sarah explained.

"Let them think what they want to think." Ayame declared.

"What? Are you together? You haven't given up on Sensei have you-"

Ayame grabbed Nathan by the shoulders before he could finish his sentence.

"No. **Never.**"

"But Sensei will think you're together too if you....Wait a second. You're not...**manufacturing a rivalry**, are you?" Sarah asked.

"Keh? How did you know?" Ayame glared.

"As a fellow female, you can't fool me." Sarah patted Ayame on the shoulder.

"Manufacturing a rivalry? **THAT'S WHAT WOMEN DO**? You sick people!" Nathan said a little too loud.

"Shut up. Anyway, I couldn't help it. It was just so...tempting." Ayame said.

"But you know, Sensei is very caring, and a good teacher, and if he sees you with Greg, he might just assume that you'd rather have someone your own age and back off. After all, he was being very nice to Greg this afternoon. I'd say this is probably the best time to confess. Even if you get rejected, you should just go for it!" Sarah advised.

Ayame sweatdropped. 'Did I not tell them?'

The end of school bell rang.

"I need to go to the classroom. Wait for me outside, okay?" Ayame told her friends.

Ayame walked into the classroom to find Kakashi sitting down at his desk looking at papers.

"Ayame. How are things?" Kakashi smiled.

"Fine thankyou. I just need some books to lend Greg for what he missed." Ayame replied.

"Oh. Greg," Kakashi's face fell. "He seems a pleasant kid, why'd you ever break up with him?"

"Well I thought so too. But he..."

"Don't force yourself. It's none of my business anyway and I don't wanna make you uncomfortable." Kakashi said in a dismissive manner.

"Kakashi."

"Hm?"

Ayame grabbed Kakashi by the tie and pulled him down so that they were at eye-level with eachother. "I'm yours, and yours alone. So don't expect to have to share me with anyone."

Kakashi's shocked expression turned into a smirk. He cupped Ayame's cheek in his palm.

"Believe me, Ayame, I don't intend to."

'His eyes...even though he is always so tranquil and unstirring...his eyes are always so wild...he's like a wolf...calm but wild at the same time.'

"Kakashi-kun?" Ayame asked.

"Hm?"

"How come ever since I confessed..."

"Yeah?"

"You haven't tried to kiss me yet?"

Kakashi stood straight again, "I'm a teacher. You are a student. It must be hard for you to be with the likes of me. I don't want to push you or take advantage of you, that's all."

"Oh." Ayame stared at her feet, slighty disturbed by his serious response. Kakashi sighed, moving closer, resting a hand on her head.

"All in the fullness of time." he smiled gently.

Ayame smiled, leaned forward and gave Kakashi a light peck on the cheek.

"You're stupid, Sensei." Ayame laughed and ran out of the classroom.

"Eh? She sure is a strange one..." Kakashi muttered.

"Hey guys, thanks for waiting." Ayame smiled.

"Hey Ami." Greg appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Oh hi."

"Mind if I walk with you guys until the station?" he asked.

"Sure." Ayame replied. Hina, Sarah, Theo and Nathan shifted uncomfortably as they walked together.

"Ami?" Greg asked while they were walking.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of Sensei?"

"Eh? Well he's a really good teacher, his lessons are always fun, and he's younger so he can identify with us more..." Ayame looked up .

"He may be a good teacher, but as a man..." Greg paused.

"I think you should stay away from him."

Ayame stopped and turned to face him.

"What?"

"I hate to interrupt but..." Ayame turned to face...

"But you're all going to have to come with us."

...the barrel of a gun.


	10. Chapter 10

**Episode 10 -**

"SENSEI!" Kakashi turned to face whoever was shrieking his name.

"Hina?" Kakashi tilted his head.

"Ayame's in trouble! TherewasthisdudewithagunandhetookeveryoneawayandIonlyjustmanagedtoescape!"

Kakashi looked more surprised than anything. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone.

"You go home and call the police. I'll sort it." Kakashi said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"What? How can I just GO home? She's my best friend! Why are you even so calm? Don't you care at all-"

"I'll sort it." Kakashi cut Hina off. Hina stared at Kakashi, before walking off, seemingly in a daze.

"I'm sorry I got you all involved in this..." Ayame looked down.

"It's okay. Someone will come for us, right?" Sarah asked.

"I hope so." Richmond sighed. "I haven't even known you for that long."

"Wrong place wrong time." Nathan commented.

"What is this place anyway?" Ayame asked.

"An abandoned drugs factory." burly man with a Hawaiian shirt and a tattoo appeared, with three other henchmen.

"So, you're Sasaki Ayame..."

"You're tattoo..." Ayame muttered. "Please tell me you're not Yakuza."

"Authentic tattoo, authentic katana." He showed a uniquely decorated sword.

"Eep! Please don't kill me!" Ayame squealed.

"You don't have a choice in the matter. Get up." Ayame cautiosly did as she was told.

"You know, someone obviously cares about you a lot..." The man commented.

"What do you mean?" Ayame asked.

"Well, you've lasted as long as you have without dying, despite numerous attempts on your life. But not anymore." The burly man held up his sword.

"WAIT! Don't kill her, kill me!" Greg tried to stand up (despite being bound)

"Gladly."

"No! Okay fine, kill her. I mean, wait!"

"Shut up," Another man appeared beside him, his gun aiming for his head.

By this time, the katana was already flying at Ayame.

The door suddenly flew off it's hinges, and was sent flying into the man with the gun against Greg's head, a giant, unconscious henchman on the other side.

Ayame stood in shock as she stared at the blade, inches away from her head.

"You ok?" Kakashi asked, his hand in the way of the blade.

"Bastard, just who do you think you are?" The man asked, taking the blade away. He speedily brought out a gun and pointed it at him, Kakashi kicking it out of his hand and giving a lazy karate chop on his shoulder, before elbowing him between the eyes.

"Not that it's any of your business, but they call me Kakashi." Kakashi said, standing over the fallen man, who was clutching his face in pain. Kakashi's response, however, caused the man to pause almost immediately.

"Hatake Kakashi?"

"Uh...yes?" Kakashi had a questioning look on his face.

The man grew even paler.

"Hatake Kakashi as in...Son of the White Fang?"

"Uh, how do _you_ know that?" Kakashi asked, raising his voice.

"Ah!" The man backed away. "We're from Hatakeda-gumi. You're quite well known in Japan."

'Hm. Being the son of the White Fang _is_ good for something then.'

Kakashi walked up to Ayame, putting one hand on her shoulder and stroking her cheek with the other, bending down ever so slightly.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Kakashi said, the softness in his voice overwhelming.

"Sensei..." Ayame just managed to spit out while staring into his wild, wolf-like eyes.

"You're dating a student?" The man asked, fairly surprised.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Meh, well done..." The man shrugged.

"Sensei is...Ami... no way." Nathan gasped as the others stared in awe.

"It's fine Kakashi, just a scratch..." Ayame recovered slightly.

"A scratch..." Kakashi drawled, as his eyes fell to her cheek, where a long, thin cut was. He moved closer, gently licking upwards, causing Ayame to shiver in response.

"Woo," Nathan leaned over Sarah, Richmond and Theo, "I think that's a slightly kinkier side to Sensei we've seen."

"Yeah," Sarah replied, her eyes still fixed on the two, "Who knew?"

Kakashi looked back at Ayame, satisfied with the taste of her blood on his tongue.

"I so hope that doesn't scar..." Kakashi commented, slowly turning to face the gangster.

"Ah! We're sorry! We were paid a lot of money for her assassination, but we never would have accepted if we knew she was your woman! Please show mercy!"

"You're not Yakuza, are you?" her face grew pale.

"What can I say? I don't have a pristine past (or present either), but no, I'm not a gangster." Kakashi laughed.

"AYAME-KUN!!!!" Deidara suddenly appeared and enveloped Ayame in a massive bear hug.

"Ayame-kun?" Ayame questioned.

"Oi, hands off." Kakashi grumbled.

Sasori was next to appear. "Ah, I see we made it in time." Sasori commented.

"What do you mean? You arrived too late!" Kakashi yelled.

"We arrived just in time for you to sort it."Sasori corrected himself. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"A scandal!" Greg stood up. "What would the school say to this?" Greg threatened.

"Hm, so you're going to report us? Where's your proof?" Kakashi mocked.

"Hm? How's this for proof?" Greg held up his camera phone, showing an incriminating picture of the two just a second ago.

"Eh? Lemme see that..." Kakashi reached forward and grabbed the phone, looked at it before fiddling around with the buttons.

"Delete..." Kakashi whispered.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!?" Greg yelled. Kakashi smirked, tossing the phone in Greg's direction.

"Next time, take better care of your evidence..." Kakashi turned back to Ayame, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, smirking at seeing the smoke fume out of Greg's ears.

"See you later." Kakashi said, about to walk away, before he was interrupted by Greg.

"You're right. I can't report you anyway, because Ami would get into trouble too, and I care about her too much for that. The only way I can beat you is to win back her heart!" Greg yelled, thereby declaring a war of love against Kakashi. Everybody in the room sweatdropped.

"Fine. Do your best..." Kakashi walked away.

"I'll beat you!" Greg yelled, running in the opposite direction, leaving Ayame and her friends in an uncomfortable silence.

"So, uh...Have you done it yet?" Nathan asked, earning a slap from Sarah.

"NO!" Ayame yelled.

'Ah, so it seems there would've been a rivalry without me manufacturing one...' Ayame thought.

The next day proceeded as usual, with Kakashi turning up fifteen minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late, I saw a black cat cross my path so I had to take the longer, more winding route."

"That's a lie!" The class shouted.

"Hm, okay, believe what you will, so we have a few notices-" Kakashi began.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" A familiar voice came from the hallway. Kakashi rolled his eyes as Gai once again broke down the door, striking his nice guy pose.

"You guys are the epitome of youth!" Gai flashed a smile in the way of the students, before turning back to Kakashi.

"KAKASHI! MY ETERNAL RIVAL! We still need to do our weekly challenge! And It's still my turn to choose!"

"Do we have to do these challenges? I'm really not in the mood." Kakashi let his head roll to the side.

" But Kakashi," Gai struck another pose, "These weekly challenges are necessary if you want to become as youthful as yours truly." Gai smirked in a rather smug maner at Kakashi, once again reading his book.

"Said the man who is in fact two years older than me..." He said, looking up.

"NOOO! YOU ARE FAR TOO COOL FOR ME!!! But I have come bearing news..." and Gai leaped onto the desk with a forward flip, causing "Wow!"s from many students.

"Prepare to meet...You're youthful new gym teacher!" Gai exclaimed.

"The students stared in awe at what he had just done, before being brought back to earth by the sound of Kakashi's drawling voice.

"Okay, Gai, but-"

"And you! I propose a giant-watermelon-eating contest!" Gai pointed a finger at Kakashi.

"Yeah, play to your strengths, why don't you? Y'know, the point of these games is not that the winner loses all dignity and has to work to get it all back again." Kakashi closed his eyes briefly.

"Alright then. Let's see..." Gai sat down cross-legged on the desk.

"How 'bout a Taijutsu match?" Kakashi opened them again, realizing that this was the perfect time to satisfy his craving for violence.

"Hm...Interesting..." Gai drawled.

"Wait, you mean Taijutsu as in, the martial art?" Franky gawked, surprised.

"No, Taijutsu the Chinese takeaway." Kakashi tilted his head to one side.

"Ah, but it is my turn to choose the challenge this week, so I have to decide!" Gai said, once again pointing at Kakashi.

"Well decide then, we don't have all day." Kakashi grabbed a chair and sat down on it.

"Okay! Hatake Kakashi, I challenge you to a Taijutsu match consisting of three five-minute rounds, using katana!" Gai declared.

"Whoa whoa whoa, _katana?_ This is a duel between -friends, not a bloody massacre," Kakashi began, Aya.e seeming to be the only one who noticed the pause before the word 'friends', "It worries me that you even have katana on you." He leaned back in his chair.

"Wooden katana!" Gai exclaimed.

"...Okay..." Kakashi drawled.

"Good! I will allow you a couple of weeks to train. Until then, **DYNAMIC EXIT!**" Gai went crashing through the window, much to the amazement of everyone in the class, apart from Kakashi.

"Freak."


	11. Chapter 11

Episode 11 -

Ayame had a lot to think about that night. First of all, she was kidnapped and almost died, and then her Sensei-turned-lover breaks in, beats everyone up and saves the day. What's that all about? And how did he know where he was? And what does he mean by 'I don't have a pristine past'? Not only that but now everyone who was there knows about our relationship, and Greg's trying extra-hard to win her back.

Oh, and Deidara and Sasori, the art and DT teachers, what were they doing there? And why has Dei taken to calling me 'Ami-kun'?

'Well, it's not all bad I guess. Dei-kun and Sasori are closer to me now, and they said they'd help us keep our secret. But the cops were contacted, so now I have a bodyguard in my room at all times.' Ayame glared at the huge giant of a man, in the black suit and dark glasses.

'How am I supposed to be alone with Kakashi if this guy's always tagging along? Troublesome...' Ayame sighed.

"Do you just stand there, or...?" Ayame asked, to which there was no reply.

"What if I have to go to the bathroom?" She mocked. Still no reply.

"What now, you're just gonna stand there and silently watch me? Creep..."

"AYAME! Your's father's home!" She heard her mother calling. Ayame immediately brightened up and rushed out of the door, her bodyguard struggling to follow her.

"Dad!" She hugged Mr. Sasaki, relieved to see him. "How was Germany?"

Ayame's father looked at her, confused. He reached into his jacket pocket to produce a pair of glasses and put them on.

"Ah, Ayame. It was cold." He shrugged.

"At least you're back in time for Christmas." Shin appeared behind them, smiling.

"At least I'm back in time for _your _parent's evening." Hayate smiled. Ayame's face immediately fell.

"Great."

"Ah, you always do fine, I'm not worried." Ayame's mother smiled.

"Hey!" Ayame's father suddenly perked up. "I'm going to a dinner next week and my two beautiful children will accompany me!"

"Oh? I don't remember agreeing to any of this." Ayame squinted.

"And tomorrow, we are going shopping for a suitable dress." her father beamed.

"For you or for me?" Ayame smirked. "Okay, I'll go, but only if you get rid of Boris here..." Ayame pointed to the giant behind her.

"Fine, fine. I'm here now, so it's not so important that he's here. But you're driving to school with me from now on, and while your at school you don't leave his side, okay?"

"What? Okay..." Ayame mumbled submissively.

"Right!" Hayate beamed, "Now that we've got the dress, all we need is the shoes!"

"But that's all the way on the top floor! Why are you so enthusiastic about this anyway?" Ayame grumbled.

"You don't get to show how great your kids are often now, do you? Now come along, we've got shoes to buy." Hayate smiled, dragging Ayame towards the elevator.

"Ah, it's closing! Hurry, Ayame, your too slow!"

Ayame groaned. 'Just how has he managed to stay so energetic?'

Hayate caught the elevator just before it closed, prising it open again as thee two walked inside. Hayate smiled at a familiar figure in the lift.

'Oh no is that...Kakashi? Awkward...' Ayame immediately tensed.

"Could've held it for us." Ayame mumbled.

"Sorry, didn't see you. Besides, the exercise would've done you good." Kakashi sighed.

"Oh, you know eachother?" Hayate said, looking at Kakashi, then back to Ayame again.

"Ah, I guess." Ayame mumbled.

"I'm Ayame's form tutor, Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi smiled.

"Oh, Hatake Kakashi! Pleasure meeting you. I'm not sure if you remember, but I knew your father." Hayate offered his hand.

"Ah, yes, my father spoke a lot about you, though I'm sorry to say I don't remember ever meeting you." Kakashi said taking it.

'Oh great. They're...socializing.' Ayame thought.

"I don't expect you to. The last time I came to Japan, you were very young. Maybe six or seven or so? So what are you doing in a place like this?" Hayate asked.

"Ah, I'm meeting someone. Want me to invest in some business." Kakashi looked up for a second.

"Ah, well with all that money I guess you should do something with it. Why not grow it?" Hayate shrugged. Ayame raised an eyebrow at her father. The lift opened.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at parent's evening." Hayate smiled as the two exited the lift.

"Dad," Ayame asked, "How come it's been so long since you went to Japan? Don't you have relatives there?"

"Yes, I do."

"Don't you miss them? I mean, I know you're busy but we could always take a holiday or something-"

"I can't."

Ayame paused. "You're always talking about 'your uncle Jiraiya', or 'Auntie Tsunade'. I don't know for the life of me who these people are!"

Hayate looked down at her daughter with sympathy. "Does it pain you so much, not knowing your relatives?" Hayate asked.

'Not really.' "Yes it does! Do these people even know I exist?" Ayame crossed her arms.

"You'll find out soon." Hayate sighed, patting Ayame on the head. He looked back at where Kakashi was previously standing.

"I was very fond of Sakumo. With his son near, I feel I can worry a little less about you." He looked back, smiling.

"How do you know him?" Ayame asked.

"Ah, he's an old friend." He continued walking. "But tell me about Kakashi, is he a good teacher? Do you like him?"

Ayame looked a bit surprised. "Yes I do like him. He's really enthusiastic about history too. Once he made us dress up as soldiers and if we got the question wrong he'd shoot us." Ayame's eyes shifted sideways.

"For real?" Hatake asked, surprised. Ayame laughed. "No, not for real."

"Ah, good, that would have been disappointing. You know, last time I saw Sakumo, we were thinking about arranging a marriage between you two." He laughed. Ayame turned pale.

"Ah, sorry. I guess that'll make it awkward between you in the classroom !" Hayate almost fell to the floor with laughter. Ayame shook her head.

"What kind of father...?" Ayame drawled.

"Ami" Nathan whispered an hour before school started. They had decided to go to the library, as no one else was ever there.

"What?" Ayame replied.

"What's with the dude?"

"Oh, Boris?" Ayame pointed at her bodyguard.

"That's his name?" Nathan asked.

"Well, that's our little nickname for him." Ayame giggled.

"Ah, you haven't laughed like that in so long! You see Sensei recently?" Sarah appeared.

"Ugh, I knew if I told you you'd obsess over it like this." Ayame grumbled.

"Anyway, I did see Kakashi yesterday. It was terrible." Ayame held her head in her hands.

"Oh? What did he do? I'll kill him!" Richmond got up.

"He did nothing. It's just that..."

Ayame's friends looked at her with curiosity.

"He met my father." Ayame looked down.

"No way! **I** haven't even met your father! What happened? Was there blood?" Nathan asked.

"No. They got on really well...apparently my father and his father were best man at each other's weddings." Ayame drawled.

"Oh my gosh! That's so cute!" Sarah squealed, "Well I guess that means he won't be too angry should he find out."

"Ah, I've practically got his blessing already." Ayame said, leaning back.

"Whadd'ya mean?" Nathan asked.

"He told me, the last time he saw Sakumo, they were arranging a marriage between us. Weird, huh?" Ayame scratched her head.

"Funny isn't it?" They turned to face the direction of the voice. It was Kakashi.

"You guys are always in the library, yet you're never reading." Kakashi smiled.

"Same goes for you!" Nathan pointed.

"Nu-uh. I'm always reading." He said, drawing attention to Icha Icha Paradise. "New addition to the gang?" Kakashi asked, looking at Boris.

"Bodyguard." Ayame stated simply.

"Oh. Well, see you later." Kakashi smiled before leaving.

"AMI!!!" Hina entered the classroom, after not seeing her since she escaped from those gangsters.

"I'm so glad you're alright! I was so scared!" Hina hugged Ayame tightly.

'Oh yeah, Hina must be the only one who doesn't know...' Ayame thought.

"Hina, there's something you should know." Ayame began.

"Is this about you and Kakashi being together now?" Hina tilted her head to the side innocently. Ayame was slightly taken aback, along with everybody else.

"What? How did you know?" Ayame asked.

"Kakashi told me. I ran into him after what happened and he said I'd know eventually so..." Hina smiled.

"Oh..." Ayame eventually drawled.

The bell rang for school to begin. Ayame went back to the classroom with everyone else, Boris included.

"Hey Ami, these are for you." Poonam caught Ayame's attention. Before she knew it a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates were being thrust into her hands.

"From Greg."

"Oh." Ayame grumbled.

"You should really give him another chance you know. He may have really changed. Not to mention last year you guys were the most popular couple out last year." Poonam suggested.

"I couldn't." Ayame shook her head.

"But you must! Come on Ami, step out of Single Town and into Romance City!"

"Um, okay, and what makes you think I'm single?" Ayame raised an eyebrow.

Nadia, walking by, immediately stopped dead in her tracks. "You're not single!?" Nadia yelled, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"What? Ami has a boyfriend? Who is it, Ami? Tell us!" People around the room were calling.

"Eugh..." Ayame looked frantically for a way out, or at least a distraction.

"Morning!" Kakashi walked briskly into the classroom. Ayame had never been so happy to see him, apart from when there was a katana aimed at her neck.

"We've got a lot to get through now, so first..." Kakashi rambled on.

It was the end of the day. Kakashi was walking back to his flat, while contemplating what had happened in the past few days. He seemed completely at piece.

"Sensei?" Kakashi heard a voice and turned to see who it was.

"Vivi?" his eyes widened.

"Hi." Vivi smiled.

"Wow! It's really you!" Kakashi walked up to her. "How's life?"

"Life is good." Vivi sighed.

"What happened? They let you out?"

"Yeah. I was good, just like you said." Vivi nodded.

"Cool. Where are you staying?" Kakashi asked.

"My mother's. I'll be coming to school tomorrow too." Vivi looked down.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's really soon and-"

"It'll be fine." Vivi interrupted Kakashi.

"Okay. See you tomorrow then." Kakashi smiled.

Ayame stared out of the car window, watching the passing trees as they rushed past her.

"Dating your teacher...Interesting..." Boris mumbled.

"Oh, so you do have a voice." Ayame turned to face Boris.

"I'm supposed to be silent but...your situation is just too interesting." Boris commented.

"Don't be like that. He's a good man. I'm old enough, he's young enough. My parents have a bigger age gap."

"Well he is a teacher, so that's a professional boundary. And how do you know he's not just using you?" Boris asked.

"For what exactly? He hasn't even tried to kiss me yet. Even so, I don't know. But he hasn't disappointed me yet, and he better not for his sake." She turned back to the window as the car pulled up to Kakashi's flat.

They walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Well I can't say whether he's bad or not, I haven't really met him." Boris looked up.

"Ten minutes early..." Ayame glanced at her watch. The door opened, revealing Kakashi in a slightly oversized sweater and a pair of skinny jeans.

"Ah, Thank Kami it's you. Thought you might have been someone else. Come in." Kakashi drearily scratched his head.

"Dude, why does it smell like cookies in here?" Ayame walked inside, followed by Boris.

"Maybe cause I made cookies. Want some? They're on the table" Kakashi waved in the general direction of the table, walking into the kitchen.

"Um, yeah, sure. Boris, cookies?" Ayame turned to ask Boris, who shrugged, with a simple 'Sure,' before taking one and practically swallowing it whole.

"You'll never guess who I saw today." Kakashi called from the kitchen.

"Who? The mafia?" Ayame smirked.

"Close. I saw Vivi." Kakashi came out of the kitchen with two cups of tea.

"No way. How is Vivi close to the mafia?" Ayame raised an eyebrow, taking the cup of tea that Kakashi was offering. Kakashi shrugged, taking a sip of his own tea.

"Tried to cut my arm off. I know a few groups that would take her."

Ayame sighed. Her shoulders drooped slightly.

"I thought you said you weren't a gangster." Kakashi paused, mentally cursing himself.

"I didn't say I was! Just because one had the odd connection doesn't mean they like to go on the odd killing frenzy with the Karachi-gumi or whatever."

"Oh very funny. Hey Boris, you should hear the one about when he murdered all those Jews." Ayame laughed sarcastically. Kakashi gulped down what remained of his tea.

'Ah, good thing she didn't believe me.'

"So how is Vivi?" Ayame asked.

"Ah, she's fine. She's coming to school tomorrow too." Kakashi beamed, taking a seat on the sofa.

"Really? So soon?"

"That's what I said. However, she said she wants to, and who am I to argue?"

"Hm. I guess so." Ayame looked down.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Kakashi asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, we've gone through pretty much all of the syllabus, so the only thing left to do is go over things in more detail." Kakashi sighed.

"Um, ok, well would source study be ok?" Ayame asked.

"Source study...Sure, I guess. After all, the dates aren't all that important." Kakashi yawned.

"They're not?" Ayame asked.

"No, not really. What actually happened is important, and of course you need to know whether it was in the 18th or 16th century, but knowing it was January 30th or whatever, it's good to know but...in the end, no one really cares."

"What? So all that time spent learning dates, I could've been doing something worth while!" Ayame sighed, frustrated.

"Learning dates are worth while!"

"Now you're beginning to contradict yourself." Ayame smirked.

"That's History for you. Right, fun's over, time to do some work."

"Ka-chwaaan~" A voice coming from the doorway alarmed Kakashi, who breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around to find Deidara and Sasori.

"Dude, I'm in the middle of something. Who gave you a key?" Kakashi asked.

"Landlord." Deidara held up a set of keys, grinning.

"Well don't stay too long, Tsunade might be coming over. She'll freak if she sees you two." Kakashi turned back around.

"Tsunade?" Ayame perked up.

"Mm. She's an old friend. _Old,_ old friend." Kakashi mumbled.

'Maybe I'll get to meet my relatives after all!' Ayame smiled.

"Eeew. Tsunade kinda scares me actually. I mean, It's not natural to have breasts that big!" Deidara shivered.

"Dei! You can't say that!" Kakashi lightly scolded Deidara.

"We can say what we like about her. She's not our boss." Sasori smirked.

"What d'you think she'd look like without all that 'corrective surgery'?" Sasori innocently asked. Kakashi thought a while, before shivering himself.

"You guys...Send me a postcard when you make it to Hell." Kakashi wafted the scarring mental image away.

"Well just make yourselves scarce, I _am_ in the middle of something after all."

"Cool, cool. While we're making ourselves scarce d'you mind if we raid your fridge?" Deidara walked into the kitchen, followed by Sasori.

"Fine. Just do it scarcely." Kakashi looked back at Ayame.

"Sorry. You know, I have the strangest feeling our lesson won't quite go as planned today." Kakashi grinned sheepishly.

"Kakashi, we need to ta- oh." The two turned round to find a blue-eyed woman in blonde ponytails.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't know we had company."

'Well that's our lesson down the drain...' Kakashi thought.

"Oh, that's alright. This is Ayame you keep hearing so much about." Kakashi jabbed a thumb in Ayame's direction, flashing a friendly smile Tsunade's way.

Tsunade blinked a couple of times, before walking up to Ayame.

"Wow, hi, I'm Tsunade. I've heard a lot about you." Tsunade shook Ayame's hand, seemingly astonished.

"Really? I've heard a lot about you too! It's a pleasure to meet you Tsunade-san!" Ayame grinned, surprised and happy to finally meet the person she had heard so much about.

"Oh please, you can call me Aunt Tsunade." Tsunade giggled.

"Granny more like." Kakashi mumbled under his breath. Tsunade glared at Kakashi.

"What was that, brat?"

Kakashi lazily leaned over the back of his chair, looking up disingenuously.

"More like sister."

Tsunade's face softened. "Oh."

"Sit. I'll make you some tea." Kakashi got up and walked back into the kitchen.

Tsunade sighed, sitting down beside Ayame and looking in the direction of Kakashi.

"He's a good kid. When he's not being a smart alec." Tsunade smiled.

"Ah, I remember the last time I saw you, you were still just a baby." Tsunade looked up, nostalgia creeping across her face.

"But how is that possible? You look so young!" Ayame gasped. Tsunade laughed.

"I know, it's hard to believe..."

"Dude, if Tsunade finds you guys here she'll kill me," Kakashi commented, pouring boiling water into a mug, "So try and get out of here without her seeing you."

"We get it, we get it, you don't wanna die etc..." Deidara smirked.

Kakashi laughed softly. "I just don't wanna die before I kill you."

"And what makes you think it won't be the other way around?" Sasori tried to hold back the flicker of a smile.

"We'll see." Kakashi walked back to where Tsunade and Ayame were getting to know eachother.

"Oh Kakashi, have you seen Gai recently?" Tsunade asked Kakashi, taking the mug that he was offering.

"Eugh...I did, yes. Not for very long though. I guess he's just like that, eh?" Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Last time I spoke to him he was talking about the difference between being cool and being youthful..." Tsunade laughed.

They talked for a while, before Tsunade eventually left, whispering a quick 'Tell me about the mission later,' before she went out of the door.

Kakashi waved goodbye before shutting the door. He looked up and sighed.

"Sorry about that. Seems that was a bit of a waste of a lesson." Kakashi looked down at his watch.

"No it wasn't," Ayame smiled, "it was fun. However, I need to get home soon. I'll see you tomorrow." Ayame walked over to Kakashi and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, before leaving, followed by Boris, who had been standing unnoticed for the whole time.

"So, what do you think?" Ayame asked Boris as they left.

"He's very clean." Boris commented. Ayame laughed in response.


	12. Chapter 12

Episode 12 -

Ayame walked into the classroom an hour before school started, surprised that the first thing she saw was Brooke, looking out of the window listening to her i-pod. She looked at Ayame for a while, glaring before looking back, asking, "What are you doing here so early?"

"I'm always here this time. What about you?" Ayame replied, to which Brooke just shrugged. Ayame looked round at the teacher's desk slightly disappointed that Kakashi was not waiting for her as usual.

"What's with you?" Brooke asked, sounding almost spiteful

"Nothing." Ayame hastily quipped. She quickly sat down at her desk and began to pack, finding a way to distract herself from the awkward silence surrounding them.

Finally Kakashi arrived, to Ayame and Brooke's relief.

"Ah, it's getting colder out there..." Kakashi mumbled, looking a bit worse for wear. It took him a while to notice Brooke, who had been posing in the corner ever since he arrived.

"Oh, Brooke, why so early?" Kakashi asked.

"I just felt like a change." Brooke smirked, biting seductively on her pen and earning a dirty look from Ayame.

"Ah, I see...So cold..." Kakashi shivered, rubbing his gloved hands vigorously.

"Ah, hence the...change of wardrobe?" Ayame asked, referring to the mittens the skinny jeans and the oversized jumpers he had been wearing a lot recently, Not to mention the fluffy boots, which many actually thought was quite endearing on him.

"Hence the change in wardrobe." Kakashi giggled. "Ooh, Parent's Evening tomorrow, isn't it?" Kakashi smirked, "It's great, everyone's so nice to you this time of year."

"Eugh, please be gentle." Brooke giggled. Kakashi yawned, catching Ayame's attention.

"Tired?" Ayame tilted her head to one side.

"Hm? Oh, I'm fine, I got some sleep."

"Alright, I need your essays in now," Kakashi walked round the classroom collecting papers, "Franky?"

"Poonam!" Poonam made an interjection, momentarily getting a few stares.

Kakashi looked at Franky expectantly, who grinned sheepishly.

"Uh, sorry Sensei, there was a game last night so...I kinda...forgot."

Kakashi sighed. "Parent's evening's tomorrow, isn't it?" Kakashi looked up.

Franky's face was soon drained of all colour. "Oh, no, Sensei, my ma'll kill me-"

Franky was soon cut off by Kakashi's laughter.

"Don't worry, I'm just screwing with you."

Kakashi walked up to Brooke's desk, holding his hand out. Brooke handed over the paper, pouting slightly.

"Thankyou." Kakashi mumbled, taking it. A knock on the door distracted Kakashi from collecting papers.

"Sorry I'm late..." The class whipped their heads round, astonished to find Vivi standing in the doorway.

"Ah, it's okay," Kakashi smiled, "oh yeah, guys I forgot to tell you, Vivi's back." Kakashi said, walking back to the front of the classroom, followed by a series of 'wow's and 'no way's.

Lunchtime. Brooke sat on the field, eating lunch with a friend.

"DAMN! Why is that attention-seeking WHORE back?" Brooke practically screamed at Nadia, her unlikely, patient friend.

"Well, maybe she's not bad after all. She seems nice..."

"Nice? She came into school with a fucking butcher's knife! And Sensei still welcomes her with open arms, like she's done nothing wrong? What kind of, masochistic freak is he?"

"Maybe he just sees the good in her." Nadia smiled.

"There is no good in her. She's trying to steal Sensei away, that's it. I just need to get close to him before she does." Brooke clenched her fists menacingly.

"Okay, but...Don't you already have a boyfriend? You know? Franky?" Nadia hinted.

"FORGET ABOUT FRANKY! THIS IS ABOUT ME!" Brooke yelled once again.

"look, just help me hatch a plan." she finally calmed down.

"Well if it makes you happy, I kinda have an idea..."

There was a knock at the door at the end of the day. Kakashi wearily went over to it and pressed his eye against the peep hole. He squinted , scratching his head before opening the door.

"How do you know where I live?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes at Nadia and Brooke, in his usual bored voice.

"We came across your address in the school register." Nadia smiled.

"Hm, of course, and why are you here?" Kakashi asked in a monotonous voice.

"Well, we wanna interview you for the school magazine!" Brooke beamed.

"No." Kakashi deadpanned. Their faces immediately fell.

"But Sensei, the principal said, it's good for students to get to know their teachers." she argued.

Kakashi sighed, turning around.

"I'll make you some coffee..." Kakashi lazily walked into the kitchen. They cautiously walked into the apartment, in awe of how tidy it was. Nadia looked on the table, at the book Kakashi was always reading, it's corners parallel to that of the table's. She formed an 'L' shape with her thumb and index finger..

"Exactly 90 degrees..." she sweatdropped. 'I can't believe someone could be THAT anal'

Nadia turned round and whispered, "This is when I leave you. Good luck!" She then dashed out of the apartment.

"How does this place keep so clean?" Brooke turned around to find Kakashi standing behind her with two cups of coffee, startling her slightly.

"Tidiness comes with age. For some people, that is. For others, it's just a lost cause. Where's your friend?"

"She had a family matter she had to tend to." Brooke replied. Kakashi squinted at Brooke for a while, before he set the mugs down on the table, before setting himself down.

"So, Sensei, let's talk about you."

"No, I didn't agree to do this little...thing."

"What? Then why did you invite me in?" Brooke asked.

Kakashi shrugged, "Meh, you came a long way. It would be heartless just to turn you back. So when you're ready, finish your coffee and go."

Brooke stared incredulously, "But-"

"But what?" Kakashi asked.

Brooke panicked for a second, before practically flinging herself at Kakashi, straddling him while he was in his seat.

"Are you telling me you feel nothing, not even now?" Brooke asked, her lips inches away from his. Kakashi paused, letting his reasoning mind think a while.

"I'm guessing there is no school newspaper then." Brooke could have exploded right there and then.

"What the HELL? Do you just not have a penis or something?" Brooke screamed, sliding off Kakashi onto the floor. Kakashi just sipped his own cup of coffee. "It's Vivi, isn't it?" she asked.

"No." Kakashi deadpanned, waving away the thought of himself and Vivi, quite amused that she didn't suspect a thing about Ayame.

"Then why? I mean, I know you're a teacher, but-" Brooke was cut off by Kakashi.

"It's not like that. Look, as a teacher, I really shouldn't say this, but since it's come to it..." Kakashi paused.

"I wouldn't date you anyway; you're really not my type."

"How?" Brooke asked.

"Well...you're going to hate me later, but you're superficial, lacking empathy, spiteful, shallow, you care too much about what others think, you're skinny, and that much pink never looked good on a woman." Kakashi listed, "No offence."

"Skinny? Isn't that a good thing?" Brooke asked.

"No." Kakashi once again deadpanned.

"Don't get me wrong, you don't wanna be fat, but look at you..." Kakashi picked up Brooke's elbow and started moving it around.

"I wouldn't have sex with you anyway, I'm afraid you'll break-"

Before Kakashi could properly finish his sentence, he felt the sharp pain of a slap on his cheek.

"And so close to parent's evening..." Kakashi sighed, rubbing his cheek.

"FUCK YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Brooke stood up, "You know you're not all that great either. You're always serious, you always look miserable, you always sound really bored, you're really boring and..." Brooke, looking for something to say, caught sight of the book.

"And I can't believe someone is that anal!" Brooke walked over to a fruit bowl in the middle of the coffee table and moved it right a fraction.

"Oh look! It's off centre!" And with that Brooke stormed out of the apartment.

"...Yep, I probably deserved that. Guess I just got carried away...So much for not being stupid."

Ayame was walking towards Kakashi's flat, when Brooke stormed past her. What bothered Ayame most was that she didn't even seem to notice her coming her way. She walked up to Kakashi's flat, to find the door slightly ajar. She pushed it open and cautiously walked inside, to find Kakashi on the floor nursing a red mark on his cheek. Ayame of course naturally assumed the worst.

"You pervert..." Ayame squinted.

"Hm? Oh, hi Ayame. What are you doing here? We don't ave a lesson today..." Kakashi looked at his watch.

"I just came to see you."

"Oh. Did you see Brooke?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes." Ayame was fuming.

"Oh. Did she see you?"

"No." She clenched her fists.

"Did she look pissed?"

"Yes." Ayame sighed. "What was she doing here?" Ayame's attempts to sound calm were unfruitful.

"Ah, naturally assuming the worst were you?" Kakashi smiled. Ayame was slightly taken aback.

"Huh?"

"She confessed." Kakashi got up.

"She did? And you..."

"I rejected her of course. Though I feel bad for the way I did it." Kakashi walked towards Ayame.

"Oh." Ayame lightly hugged Kakashi, who returned the hug.

"Ayame, I'm not some kind of old perverted teacher who preys only on young students, you know." Kakashi lightly chuckled.

"What about me?" Ayame smirked.

"That's different. I can't help my feelings." Kakashi pouted.

There was a comfortable silence among the two, before Ayame decided to break it.

"But why was she so angry?" Ayame drew back, looking up into Kakashi's mismatched eyes. Kakashi looked slightly guilty.

"Eh, that was my fault. I said something really bad." Kakashi sweatdropped.

"What was it?" Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"No, I can't say. You'd hate me." Kakashi shook his head vigorously.

"Gee, was it that bad? Tell me!" Ayame ordered. Kakashi sighed.

"I said she was so thin I wouldn't want to have sex with her incase she broke."

Ayame gasped, slapping Kakashi in the same place so hard he toppled back onto the floor, his back hitting the bottom of his seat.

"Kakashi! What a cruel thing to say!"

"I know, I probably deserved that too." Kakashi said, close to tears.

"Heh, now that I think about it, that's pretty funny." Ayame giggled slightly, kneeling down so that she was on Kakashi's level.

"Dude, Make up your mind. Who's side are you on?" Kakashi laughed.

"You're weird." Ayame commented.

Kakashi stared at Ayame. "Well that was out of the blue." Kakashi was about to get up, before Ayame pushed down on his chest, making him fall again.

"No, I mean, well...When you're at work-"

"School." Kakashi interrupted.

"Whatever! I mean, you're always really serious at school, no matter how ridiculous what you're actually doing is...and then now you're all giggly and shit, like there are two different Kakashi. Makes you wonder, which one is the real Kakashi?"

"Aw, there you go getting all deep, I don't think my mind can handle it." Kakashi laughed.

"SEE? SEE? That's what I mean!" Ayame pointed at Kakashi. Kakashi looked down at Ayame's extended index finger.

"What's that, the finger of justice?" Kakashi smirked. "How do you know I don't just get giddy from being with you?" Kakashi asked.

"Aw, I'd hate that. Knowing that every time I see you, you'll be high." Ayame mused. Kakashi couldn't help but laugh so hard he was nearly brought to tears. Ayame gave him a questioning look.

"Sorry, sorry. That's just an unbelievably cute thing to say." Kakashi said, placing a hand on Ayame's head, before allowing it to slide back to support the bottom of her skull.

"Hm, I guess even a genius can be ridiculously stupid at times, huh?" Ayame smiled, smoothing down his fringe, which was now in disarray.

"You think I'm a genius, that's good enough for me." Kakashi smirked, cupping her chin with one hand, and lightly holding onto Ayame's hands with the other. They shared a moment of comfortable silence, before Kakashi decided to break it.

"I'll have you know, Ayame..."

"Hm?" Ayame replied. Kakashi gave a light tug on her arm, which was just enough to cause Ayame to topple over, gasping as she did so, until their faces were centimetres apart.

"I have no problem with being serious either."

Kakashi's eyes stayed fixed on Ayame. Any trace of a smile was gone. Ayame could feel herself melting under his gaze and the heat of his breath against her skin.

"I..." Ayame struggled to get words out as she felt her throat closing up.

"I think we've been in this position before." Ayame managed to get the words out, thinking back to when Kakashi had saved her from that sniper.

"I remember." Kakashi gently pulled Ayame in closer until the gap between their lips was closed.

Kakashi rested his hands on Ayame's hips, as he let his tongue express any amount of passion he had for her.

'Wait, is this the first time he's actually kissed me?' Ayame thought, returning the kiss.

"Having fun?"

Ayame immediately pulled away and whipped her head around to see who it was. She sighed in relief as she found Deidara leaning against the doorway, smirking.

"Dei..." Ayame groaned.

"Spoilsport..." Kakashi laughed.

Ayame stood up. "I'm going home."

"Hm? You only just got here." Kakashi looked disappointed.

"Yeah, but I promised Dad I'd be back before six. I'll see you tomorrow." Ayame turned and squeezed past Deidara. Kakashi sighed, his eyes fixed to the doorway. They then travelled to Deidara.

"I blame you." Kakashi grinned, reaching backwards for a cushion and throwing it at Deidara.

Deidara laughed. "So, uh-"

"How's our girl?" Kakashi interrupted, anticipating what Deidara was going to say.

"Nu-uh," Deidara shook his head. "She's your girl now."

Kakashi smirked, getting up.

"I suppose she is, isn't she?" Kakashi sighed, before looking sideways and re-adjusting the fruit bowl.

"Home~" Ayame called out.

"Ah, Ayame, come on in and help me wash up." her father called. Ayame walked into the kitchen.

"Hey."

"You wash, I dry." Hayate said. "You should know, I invited your teacher to the dinner."

"You what? Do you know how awkward that'll be for me? Very awkward. You should consider other people's feelings before you just invite people. Does he even know anyone there?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah, he has a few connections. You don't really think it'll be that bad, do you?" Hayate asked. There was no answer.

"Do you?" Hayate turned round. Ayame was frozen to the spot.

"Ayame?" Hayate rushed over to her side.

"Oh..." Hayate stared at what she was holding in her hands. A ball of water hovered above her hands, a strange breeze helping it to ripple in perfect circles.

"Like the rasengan..." Hayate muttered to himself. He grabbed Ayame's elbow and sat her down, causing the water to burst out of shape and fall back into the sink.

"What was that? Do you know what that was?" Ayame asked, a worried look plastered all over her face.

"It was you." Hayate said. "Listen, Ayame, there's something we haven't told you. You are not like most people. This is something that runs in the family. You're kinda....a ninja."

Naturally, Ayame didn't believe a word of it, however, after much explaining, she finally came round.

"It just took you a while to release your chakra. I'll teach you how to manage your chakra flow, however, don't use any jujutsu's ever unless you're in a life threatening situation. Don't even tell your closest friends. You're not the only ninja out there, so don't try to be a hero. It's dangerous. You understand?" Hayate warned.

Ayame nodded, still in a daze. "Dos Shin know?"

"No, but, perhaps it would be wise to tell him. You're a good child. I didn't expect you to be so mature about the whole situation."

It was parents evening. Kakashi was talking to Franky's parents in the hall, while other parents in the queue listened intently and nosily to see how eachother's kids were doing.

"Well, I heard about your son's football scholarship. Congratulations, by the way." Kakashi smiled.

"Why thankyou. So, how's our son doing in class?" Franky's mother spoke.

"Um, well, he's very active. He always gets involved, and though he talks a lot, he's generally quite well behaved. There's just one little problem with his studies..." Kakashi trailed off.

"Oh, and what would that be?" the father decided to speak up.

"Well, he's...what some people in the profession would call...an idiot, which I think may be due to either laziness or lack of caring. I mean, he's already got a good idea of what he wants to be when he leaves school, and I guess he doesn't see history or any other academic subjects coming into it. It's a shame really 'cause if he put a little effort into his work he has the potential of getting an A." Kakashi replied.

"Oh, that's good." the parents smiled, nodding. "Thankyou very much." They got up and walked away, leaving the parent's in the queue with an incredulous look on their faces, wondering how Kakashi got away with what he just said.

'Just as I thought' Kakashi smiled, 'They weren't listening to anything I was saying.' Kakashi looked down, gathering papers that were on his desk.

"Kakai-chan." Kakashi heard a voice coming from his right. Kakashi twitched at being called 'Kakai-chan', but he was getting used to it.

"Yes, Dei-kun?" Kakashi replied, not looking up.

"Have you seen Brooke's mom? She looks like a cat mated with Cher." Dei whispered, giggling. Sasori even laughed a little.

"Oh, You guys are so immature." Kakashi smirked.

"That's not what your mom said last night." Deidara replied, finding it so amusing. Kakashi laughed.

"Hm, mother? That's funny, you seem more like the father or dodgy uncle kinda guy."

"ooh, burn..." Deidara said, waling away. Hayate was next in the Queue.

"Oh, Sasaki-san. Nice to see you again." Kakashi smiled.

"Hi. Um... Are they..." Hayate pointed at Deidara and Sasori, "Who I think they are?" The other parents in the queue leaned in with curiosity, thinking they could be some kind of celebrity.

Kakashi leaned back, clearing his throat, "I'm guessing if I said yes you would not approve?" he closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Are they reformed?" Sasaki asked. The parent's in the queue then went to thinking they were some kind of convicts. Kakashi leaned forward, speaking quieter than usual, even though he knew it was probably a futile effort.

"By no means. We're just putting our differences aside for the duration of this mis...uh...thing." Hayate scratched his head.

"Oh. Do you trust them?" he asked.

"Of course not. But hey, I'd blame the Principal." Kakashi suggested.

"Hm. He always was quite an eccentric character." Sasaki looked up into space.

"Anyway, Ayame." Kakashi said suddenly, startling everyone else listening.

"In general, her homework's very good, although not always consistent. You can see when she obviously hasn't spent much time on it."

"Oh?"

"The handwriting. Makes a teacher want to kill himself. Aside from that, very good." Kakashi smiled, "As far as participation goes, she could do better, but it's much better than at the start of the year. In general, I am pleased." Kakashi smiled.

"Ah, that's good. See you." Sasaki got up and left.

That night, the first thing the parents said to their children was, "I saw your teachers; They're very … pretty."

Brooke stared out of the window, listening to her i-pod, as usual.

"Peace offering?" Brooke looked at her desk to find a cake on top of it.

"I'm on a diet." Brooke simply stated.

"I know..." Kakashi looked up innocently.

"...Oh I get it. Trying to fatten me up. Very funny, arsehole." Brooke spat out. Kakashi got down on one knee so that he was on Brooke's level.

"Look, I know what I said was really, really bad, I just kinda got carried away..."

"Carried away?"

"Okay, okay, what I mean is, I know it was a really clumsy way of rejecting you, and I'm sorry for that, I really am, but don't you think you're way of confessing was a little clumsy too? I mean, my girlfriend was right around the corner and she nearly killed me when she saw you coming out of my apartment."

Brooke paused, "You have a girlfriend?" she asked.

"Yes. And It's not Vivi, incase you were wondering." Kakashi replied. There was a silence between the two, before Brooke decided to speak up.

"Is she pretty?" she asked.

"Very. She slaps like a bitch though. Makes me look forward to yours." They both shared a laugh.

"Okay, I will officially do anything, for your forgiveness. I'll even let you slap me again and spend the day with a huge red mark on my face. Really." Kakashi said.

Brooke looked at Kakashi. "You'd do that? Doesn't this break teacher/student protocol?" she asked.

"I think we already broke it when you straddled me."

"Ok, ready?"

"Do your worst." Kakashi smirked.

"No I can't do it, no matter how much you like it!" Brooke shook her head.

"So we're cool?" Kakashi asked. Brooke sighed.

"We're cool. Now help me eat this cake." Brooke ordered.

"Can't. I'm on a diet." Kakashi smirked.

"Don't give me that crap." Brooke glared at Kakashi.

"Ok." Kakashi span a chair round and sat down.

"You know," Brooke said getting the cake out of the box, "Ayame slaps pretty hard too."

"Yeah I know." Kakashi said, before pausing, realizing what he'd just given away.

"You know?" Brooke asked.

"Uh-"

"Actually, come to think of it, I didn't think much about it at the time, but Ayame was in that same building wasn't she?" Brooke narrowed her eyes. Kakashi took a mouthful of cake to allow himself to think before he said anything stupid.

"Sensei, are you guys dating?"

Kakashi put a hand on each shoulder, taking a while to finish his mouthful before putting on the most angelic face he could, almost whispering,

"Please don't tell."

Brooke nearly fell out of her seat when she heard that.

"What? OMG you are!" Brooke exclaimed wide-eyed, "I so wasn't expecting that! Why even did you tell me? You could've so gotten away with it!"

"If you were already suspicious, then it's probably better to let you know now than to have you find out in a way that's much more humiliating for me. Besides, you were going to find out eventually. I might as well let you know now-" Kakashi paused, seeing deep in thought all of a sudden.

"So...have you done it yet?" Brooke asked, feeling mischievous.

"Why is that always the first thing everyone asks?" Kakashi took another bite out of the cake.

"No, we haven't 'done it' yet."

"Really? Cause I don't know about past relationships, but she never did it with Greg." Brooke said in between mouthfuls. "You could be her first."

Kakashi paused. "Really?" Brooke nodded.

"Can you keep a secret?" Kakashi laughed sheepishly.

"Sure. I don't think anyone would believe me even if I told them." Brooke smirked. "I kinda like Ayame a bit more now. She's not as boring as I thought. You're not as boring as I thought. You're always so serious in class. Didn't think you were capable of having fun."

"Well don't expect any more of this kind of behaviour. This is a one off."

Just then the door burst open, revealing a very pissed looking Ayame.

"We need to talk." Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"You're breaking up with me?" Kakashi joked.

"What the hell?"Ayame asked, obviously not in a good mood. Kakashi smiled at Brooke before getting up and walking towards Ayame.

"Since when did you become best friends with my father?" Ayame put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean?" Kakashi tilted his head to one side.

"Did he invite you to that dinner thingy?" she asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You can't go!" Ayame ordered.

"Why not?" Kakashi asked.

"'Cause I'm going! And then there'll be you on one side, and Dad on the other, and it'll all be very awkward..." Ayame rambled on.

"Only for you." Kakashi said, putting a finger to her lips to shut her up,

"Plus, I can't wait to see what you'd look like in that dress." he smirked, Ayame's eyes following him as he left the classroom.

"So..." Brooke began, "You and Sensei, huh?"

Ayame turned round. "You know?" Brooke nodded.

"Your secret's safe with me. Cake?"


	13. Chapter 13

Episode 13 -

"What is this thing we're going to anyway?" Shin asked.

"Tony's 50th. It's a nice place. The Golden Leaf hotel. Has a balcony, a garden, live music, it's great." Mrs Sasaki smiled.

"It better be." Ayame yawned.

"Tired, Ayame?" Hayate asked, keeping his eyes off the road.

"You two shouldn't have stayed up all night. You'll be so tired at the party. Shin, you certainly should've known better," Ayame's mother chided them.

"They're young, let them have their fun." Hayate laughed. "We're here. At least make an effort, ok?"

Ayame surveyed the room as they walked inside. There were people from all different age groups there, from 17 to 60 years old. Hayate saw someone he knew and began to mingle, dragging Ayame along with him.

"Ayame, there's someone I'd like you to meet. This is Adrian, the son of Mr Renhelm." Sasaki introduced a boy around her age, with neat brown hair, blue eyes and rectangular glasses.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Ayame." Ayame smiled.

"Likewise. Adrian."

"Oh, Tony!" Hayate called out, walking towards said Tony, leaving the two alone.

"So, the son of Renhelm Industries. That's quite an enviable position." Ayame commented, attempting to fit in with all the upperclassmen surrounding her.

"You'd think so. You'd be wrong." Adrian cleared his throat, taking two glasses of wine from a passing waiter and giving one to Ayame.

"Why would you say that?" Ayame asked, curious.

"My father. He's written me out of his will." he said bitterly, downing his glass all in one. Ayame sweatdropped.

"Dude...What did you do?"

"I came out. He didn't accept me."

"Oh. I ...see." Ayame nodded, "You're gay?"

"Bisexual."

Ayame sweatdropped once more.

"I just need to regain his pride in me, then maybe he'd put me back in his will." he narrowed his eyes.

"Riiight." Ayame drawled, sipping her wine, and soon finding that white wine was not her drink.

"Him..." Ayame looked in the direction he was pointing in, finding a slouching, silver-haired man, chatting to an older man.

'I know that slouch...' Ayame sweatdropped.

"Kakashi Hatake. My father's been trying to get him to invest in our business. Gosh, if I could even talk to him... I can already imagine the look on Father's face." Adrian stated to space out.

Ayame sweatdropped. "Oh, so he's quite wealthy, is he?" Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, he's untouchable. A millionaire. And very smart." he replied. Ayame nearly exploded when she heard that.

"Oh really? You know what? I may be able to help. Kakashi!" Ayame called just loud enough for Kakashi to hear. Kakashi turned around, smiled and walked over.

"Yo." Kakashi smiled, putting a hand on her head, "You seem tired. Did you sleep at all last night??" Kakashi asked.

"I'll be fine." Ayame said, yawning.

"I even told you to go to bed early." Kakashi sighed.

"Hey, you didn't sleep last night either." Ayame pouted.

"Eh- That's completely different!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Anyway, I wanna ask you something about Renhelm Industries..."

"Sasaki, it's been a while. How was Germany?" Tony Renhelm asked.

"Oh, really nice. Very cold though." Hayate commented.

"I see you finally decided to bring your daughter to one of these." he nodded in the direction of Ayame.

"Yeah, I finally managed to drag her along." Hayate nodded.

"You're lucky. She's grown into quite a beautiful young lady."

"Hah! You should see her first thing in the morning." Hayate laughed.

"Well, I see she's already making friends. Isn't that Hatake?" Tony squinted.

Hayate shifted uncomfortably. "Yes. Yes it is." He said, drinking down a glass of sherry.

"Really?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah, all they need to do is slightly lower the cost of each unit and get more sales, then we have business." Kakashi nodded.

"Ok. Oh, and one more thing, " She grabbed Kakashi's arm and pulled him to the side.

"Untouchable? Millionaire? What the fuck?"

"Oh yeah. I have my inheritance to thank for that." Kakashi mused.

"Then WHY? Why are you a history teacher when you could be doing other things!?" Ayame asked.

"I dunno." Kakashi deadpanned. Ayame sweatdropped.

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter either way." Ayame smiled. Kakashi turned to face Ayame.

"You look beautiful," Kakashi smiled.

"Thanks." Ayame looked down, blushing slightly. "I have to admit, though seeing you in a suit will take some getting used to, you don't look half bad." Ayame smirked.

Kakashi smiled, putting a hand on her head.

"If you see your father, point him in my direction. We need to have a little chat." Kakashi walked away, and began socializing with some of the older gentlemen.

Hours later, Kakashi soon found that just about everyone in the room was inebriated. Though Shin and Mrs Sasaki had gone to their hotel room early to get some sleep.

"Hey, Kakashi!" Hayate slurred, appearing out of the drunken masses.

"Oh, not you too. You should go to bed. Actually, you and Ayame need to go to bed. She's finding it desperately hard to stay awake." Kakashi said half to himself, as it was obvious that the drunken Hayate was not listening.

"Ayame," Kakashi called to Ayame, sitting at a table, propping her head up with her hands. She suddenly perked up and looked Kakashi's way.

"Help me get your father to his room."

"Sasaki-san, where is your key?" Kakashi asked, stopping outside the hotel room.

"In my front pocket." Hayate slurred.

"Ayame, would you do the honours?" Kakashi asked. Ayame fished around in her fathers pocket for the key. Upon finding it, she pushed it in the lock, opened the door and walked inside.

"Ah, bed." Were her last words before she flopped onto the bed, unconscious.

Kakashi sweatdropped, putting Hayate on the other bed. "At least do your teeth or change or something..." he walked over to Ayame, and sat down on the bed.

"Or take your shoes off at least." he silently chuckled to himself, taking Ayame's shoes off one by one.

"You can get up now, Sasaki-san. I know you're not drunk." Kakashi commented.

"Aw..." Hayate got up, grinning, "But I was good, no? I even got you to take me to my room."

Kakashi smirked, "Yes, you play the role of an intoxicated man...pretty much perfectly. Ever thought of Broadway?" Kakashi asked sarcastically. He turned Ayame on her back and managed to slide her under the covers.

"Nah, can't dance." The two shared a laugh. Kakashi looked down at Ayame, as the warm smile on his face slowly faded into a serious one.

"Sasaki-san, I have a confession to make."

"What confession?"

Kakashi paused.

"I think I'm in love with your daughter."

"I know."

"You knew?"

"I guessed." Hayate looked down. "Oh God..." he sighed, his head in his hands. "Kakashi, you're a good man, infact, out of all the guys I know, I'd definitely trust you the most with her. It's just that...we're in America now. Not only will you have to leave her eventually, but she's brought up in a world where killing is wrong, and she's going to have to find out who you really are sometime down the line. The worst is that given the danger of your missions, you're too close to death. What if something happens to you? That could break her heart." Hayate said remorsefully.

"I understand." Kakashi sighed.

"I know you do. I guess you can't help who you fall in love with. Does she love you?" Hayate asked.

"I don't think so. I guess I should tell her before our relationship progresses any further."

"She may accept you. But if she doesn't, please promise you'll let her go. And please explain the ful details of your job and your current mission, so she knows what to expect. Don't make her suffer any more than she needs to." Hayate pleaded.

"I promise." Kakashi stood up.

"One more question. You...haven't done it yet, have you?" Hayate asked.

"I really didn't expect that coming from you, and no. Sleep well." he said as he walked out.


	14. Chapter 14

Episode 14 -

Sunlight burned Ayame's skin and eyes as the curtains were drawn.

"Rise and shine!!" Hayate's energetic voice boomed, almost bursting Ayame's eardrums.

"Dad! Shut up!" Ayame exclaimed, falling out of the bed.

"Anyway, do your teeth, have a shower, get dressed, meet me downstairs in an hour." Hayate promptly left the room.

It was a beautiful day outside. Fairly mild, and the morning light gave a golden tint to everything that touched its rays.

"Good Morning." Was the first thing Ayame heard as she stepped outside. She turned to find Adrian to her left.

"Beautiful day." Ayame commented.

"Indeed." Adrian confirmed. "I'd like to thank you for last night. You were a massive help." Adrian smiled.

"No problem. You should meet him, you know. He's a nice guy. Not as 'untouchable' as you think. Come on." Ayame grabbed Adrian by the wrist and dragged him towards Kakashi who was sitting at a table, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Morning." Ayame sang.

"Ah, Ohayo. Sleep well?" Kakashi set his cup down, smirking slightly.

"Mm. I don't know how you do it." Ayame replied.

Kakashi let out a breath of laughter. "You slept like a baby. Next time, leave staying up to the professionals, 'kay?" Kakashi smirked.

"Okay..." Ayame groaned.

"What about you? Sleep well?"

"No, not really. Had a lot to think about." Kakashi replied.

"Oh, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Adrian Renhelm, this is Hatake Kakashi, and vice versa." Ayame introduced the two to eachother.

"It's an honour to meet you, Mr Hatake." Adrian offered his hand.

"An honour? Wow, I don't hear that everyday." Kakashi laughed, taking it. "Call me Kakashi."

"So, would you-" Kakashi raised a hand, cutting Adrian off in mid-sentence.

"I know, I know. Just take my advice, then we'll see. I'll also put in a good word for you, if you want."

"You'd do that?" Adrian's eyes widened.

"Sure." Kakashi stood up. "Well, Your father invited me to go hunting. I don't really know what that's about, but, whatever. You guys have fun." Kakashi smiled.

"See you later." Ayame walked off with Adrian.

It was 9 o'clock, a day after the party, Ayame decided to go and visit Kakashi. She was about to knock on the door when she heard muffled voices.

"Quit monkeying around Kakashi! Listen, as much as I love Ayame, there is still a job at hand and those people are dangerous! If ANYTHING happens to that girl as a result of those two monsters and YOUR stupidity, I will NEVER forgive you. You will NEVER serve another mission in your LIFETIME. You better watch it or I'm taking you off your client and Gai will replace you. You're very, very good at what you do, so do your fucking job."

The door suddenly opened, Ayame jumping out of the way just in time. Tsunade stormed out of Kakashi apartment, but stopped as soon as she saw Ayame.

"Oh, hi Ayame. You alright? How are things?" Tsunade asked, trying to sound calm.

"G...Good..." Ayame replied, a little confused.

"That's good. See you." Tsunade smiled, walking away. Kakashi came to the doorway, looking at where Tsunade was.

"Hey." Kakashi smiled slightly, holding out his hand.

"Hey." Ayame lightly placed her hand on his, looking in Tsunade's direction, "What was that about?" Ayame asked, looking confused.

"Ah, nothing. She found out about Dei and Sasori. She doesn't like them very much." Kakashi gently sat her down, sitting down opposite her.

"Ayame, we need to talk."

"You're breaking up with me?" Ayame joked.

"Erm...Ayame, this is serious." Kakashi spoke softly. "I've lied to you Ayame. I'm not a history teacher." Kakashi confessed.

"You're not?" Ayame raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a bodyguard. Your father hired me to protect you."

"Ah..." Ayame tilted her head to the side, not sure whether to believe him or not. However, she had to wonder when she saw the look of seriousness in his eyes.

"You're...a **bodyguard?**"

"Kind of."

Ayame sigh in exasperation. "You're not lying to me?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No."

"So...You're only with me because you're paid to?" Ayame spat out.

"No, that's not it at all." Kakashi looked up.

"And you expect me to believe that?" Ayame asked. She got up.

"I bet that's why it took you so long to even kiss me." Ayame spat.

"What? Ayame! That's not true-"

"**Why do you even care?!**" Ayame screamed, interrupting Kakashi. Kakashi gave her an incredulous look.

"I'm leaving. I don't want to see you any more." Ayame walked out of the apartment.

"Wait!" Kakashi ran infront of Ayame, blocking her way.

"What?" she spat out.

Kakashi paused, after remembering what Hayate had told him. "It's dangerous out there, so...be careful."

Ayame sighed in disbelief.

"You've already let go, haven't you?" Ayame asked

"I was anticipating this moment, that's all." Kakashi whispered remorsefully.

"You bastard." Ayame pushed her way past Kakashi, turning around to say one last thing.

"I can take care of myself, you know. Probably better than you can." Kakashi gave Ayame a surprised look.

'Someone forgot to remind her that I'm a shinobi too?'

"You don't know!" Ayame stormed out of the building, leaving Kakashi alone in the corridor.

Ayame walked out of the building, she was heartbroken, then angry, then in disbelief. How could Kakashi have been so cruel? There were times where she called him heartless or mean jokingly, but when it came down to it, she always said that he was a decent man. She never would have thought that he'd stoop to that level.

'I can't believe I almost told him I loved him.' Of course she still did, but at least it saved her the embarrassment of saying 'I love you' and being coldly rejected.

"Get away from me!" Ayame whipped her head around to see a young woman struggling with a shady figure in a dark alleyway.

"Hey!" Ayame called out instinctively. The figure immediately stopped and turned towards Ayame, who immediately regretted calling out. The figure let go of the lady, who immediately ran away from the shady man, passing Ayame on the way. The man slowly walked towards Ayame.

"Sasaki Ayame...I knew you'd try to be a hero."

Ayame's eyes widened. 'This was a trap?' she thought. The man came even closer, looking ready to attack. Ayame panicked, looking for a way to escape.

'Father said never to use it unless I was in danger. This counts, right?' Ayame thought nervously. The figure suddenly struck, Ayame narrowly dodging it and coming up behind him with a rasengan. Just before it hit him he turned around and caught her arm, performing a hand seal, a strange tattoo forming on her arm as she felt all the chakra draining from her body.

'I didn't think he was one too...Shit.'

Kakashi must have been sitting there for at least ten minutes, his head burrowed in his hands. They suddenly dropped to the side, Kakashi temporarily recovering.

'He's right. Even if I did tell her I loved her, I doubt she'd believe me.' Kakashi sighed, looking towards the doorway, still ajar. He walked over to the door to close it, when a dark haired woman rushed to the flat opposite his, panting heavily and fumbling with the keys, failing to get it into the lock.

"Jen?" Kakashi stared at his neighbour. She jumped slightly, but relaxed when she saw Kakashi.

"Oh, Kakashi, sorry I didn't see you there."

"What's wrong? You look a bit flustered." Kakashi observed. Jen nodded, swallowing hard.

"I got mugged."

"Mugged?"

"Something! I didn't want to stay to find out what he wanted." Jen swallowed once again. Kakashi felt a wash of dread flowing over him. Maybe he shouldn't have let Ayame go out alone.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked, concerned.

"I just hope that girl's alright..." Jen looked down. Kakashi's eyes shot up.

"What girl?"

"She's the only reason I got away. She distracted him for a while and I just ran. I regret it now. What if something happens to her?"

"Oh God...I'd call the police and hope they can help." Kakashi suggested trying to sound normal, after closing the door, and performing some hand seals and pressing his hand against the floor. A figure emerged from the smoke created, revealing Pakkun.

"Long time no see." Pakkun sighed drearily, "It was getting a bit dull, to be honest."

"I have a favour to ask..."

The phone rang at the Sasaki residence. Hayate went over to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Good evening, Hayate-san. This is Arashi speaking. Remember me?" Hayate immediately tensed up when he heard the name.

"Arashi, what do you want?" Hayate spat out.

"Oh, nothing, nothing, I just thought I'd come and say 'hi,' and to inform you that we have your daughter."

Hayate gasped in surprise, "Where is she?"

"Don't worry, she's perfectly safe, well, if you can count being strapped to a bomb as safe. Well, it hasn't gone off yet, that's the plus side." Arashi cackled, looking at the blindfolded and gagged young girl tied to a chair in the middle of an empty room, with guards lining the walls.

"Arashi, for the last time, what do you want?" Hayate immediately tensed up.

"Hayate, I don't want anything. I'm just doing what I'm paid to do." Hayate could even hear the smile he wore on his face.

"If you want to know what my boss wants, on the other hand, you're gonna have to ask him." Arashi commented before hanging up.

"Well, this is where I take my leave. Good luck!" he turned to a shivering Ayame, smiling and walking in the other direction. He was stopped dead in his tracks, however, by a shuriken centimetres away from his feet. Another shuriken darted past Ayame's face, just hitting close enough to rip off the blindfold, but not to damage her skin. Arashi looked up slowly, to find Kakashi standing on a ledge, glaring down at him.

"Now this is a surprise. The infamous Sharingan no Kakashi decided to grace us with his presence. Do you always make such a flashy entrance?" Arashi smirked. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

'I know him. He was in my father's squad with the AnBu before he turned missing nin.'

"Arashi, right?"

"Hmm...I'm surprised you recognised me. I guess you want the girl?"

"Yes I want the girl. What do you want?" Kakashi asked. Arashi smirked.

"Revenge." he cackled. He looked back at Ayame, staring back in fright and a little awe.

"Well this should be easy. I heard you got fired from the AnBu. Got a little rusty, did we? Or maybe you just got tired of the blood of the innocent." Arashi chuckled sarcastically. Ayame looked slightly alarmed. Kakashi smiled grimly.

"I could never get tired of that." Kakashi laughed, though it was a blatant lie. Contrary to popular belief, Kakashi had never killed a civilian, well, not on purpose.

"Yeah, you can have her, if you get past me and all of my guards in less than six minutes."

Ayame's head immediately shot up, as if to warn him. Kakashi smirked.

"Fine." he disappeared, Arashi, Ayame and his henchmen looking up in confusion. Before they knew it, a kunai struck the hearts of each of the guards, as they flopped lifelessly into the floor. Ayame gasped as Kakashi landed gracefully on the ground.

"I guess it's just you now." Kakashi smirked.

"Hm." Arashi grunted, charging at him, taking out a kunai, ready to attack. Kakashi brought out a kunai, blocking Arashi's attack. Arashi jumped back, performing a few more handseals before yelling,

"**Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu**!" Kakashi then saw a huge ball of fire hurtling towards him. He formed hand seals of his own.

"**Zankuuha**." The flames split into two just before they hit Kakashi.

"Damn." Arashi brought out five shuriken, throwing them at Kakashi, forming the tiger seal.

"**Shuriken : kage buunshin no jutsu.**" Suddenly, the shuriken replicated themselves, making it seem like a thousand shuriken were directed at Kakashi. They hit him all over, before he poofed away.

The next thing Arashi knew, he was being dragged underground by his feet, his head just poking out of the ground. A fog soon filled the room, Arashi fading into it.

Kakashi couldn't see anything but white, he crouched down, closing his eyes.

'If I can't see you, then I guess I'll just have to sniff you out.'

His eyes remained closed for a few seconds, before they shot open. He skidded round to face the opposite direction, before darting off, dodging some smaller fireballs, before Arashi just came into view, standing just infront of Ayame.

"Three seconds." He smirked. Kakashi pushed off the ground, headed for Arashi, forming a Raikiri.

"By the way, Arashi," Arashi took out a kunai, ready to block any attack headed his way, knowing that as long as he blocked the attack, Kakashi didn't have a chance. Kakashi was centimetres away from Arashi, before he deactivated the Raikiri, grabbing onto Arashi's wrist with his left hand, and pressing the other hand on the side of his head.

"I wasn't fired..." Kakashi smirked at the sight of Arashi's surprised, terrified eyes.

"I quit."

He formed a small, rasengan-like ball, before muttering, "**Raikiri.**" Kakashi suddenly let go of Arashi's wrist as what looked like a lightning bolt went straight from Kakashi's hand, through Arashi's head, sending his body flying, and a small amount of blood flying and sputtering onto Kakashi's face and hand. He landed onto the ground again, still dashing towards Ayame.

"Ayame." Kakashi sighed, flinging his arms around Ayame, as the bomb could be heard reaching zero, and a huge boom was heard, flames engulfing the scenery.

The two materialised a distance from the explosion, Kakashi still squeezing onto Ayame tightly.

"Ayame...Thank God you're alright." Kakashi sighed, letting his heavy eyes drop in relief. Ayame brought her arms up and gently wrapped her arms around him, tears streaming down her face, a mixture of emotions swimming around in her head, all trying to escape at once. She was not sure which was more intense, her fright, her relief, or the fact that she was in the arms of her saviour, the one she loved, but could never love her back. Kakashi ran a finger through her hair in an effort to comfort her upon hearing her stunted breaths. A minute had past before Ayame was calm. Kakashi slowly and reluctantly loosened the grip on Ayame, moving back slightly to get a good look of Ayame. He paused, before speaking in the softest voice he could.

"This is me. I live to kill." he murmured. Ayame opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by Kakashi.

"You don't deserve someone like me." Kakashi accidentally said out loud. Ayame's eyes widened in shock. Kakashi stood up.

"Ayame-chan!!" the two turned in the direction of a familiar voice.

"Dad!" Hayate ran and enveloped Ayame in a warm hug.

"Well I guess I'm not needed here anymore..." Kakashi shrugged. Hayate looked up at Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san, I couldn't thank you enough!" Hayate said, almost choking up.

"Don't mention it. Oh, and you'll tell your daughter the full nature of my being here? I didn't really get a chance to." Kakashi's quite impersonal tone cut through Ayame's heart like a knife.

"Well I'll take my leave now." Kakashi walked away a few paces before stopping. Ayame turned around to face Kakashi, reluctant that he was leaving.

"Ja ne." He waved, before poofing away. Ayame jumped in surprise, before turning back to her father.

"You didn't tell me Kakashi was a shinobi too." Ayame said, her bottom lip quivering.

"I'm sorry, Ayame-chan, I really am." her father sighed, sympathetically, almost as if he knew exactly where she was coming from.


	15. Chapter 15

Episode 15 -

Nathan, Sarah, Theo, Hina and Richmond all stared in shock.

"No way." Sarah drawled.

"Really?" Nathan asked. Ayame nodded.

"But how can he be a bodyguard? Isn't he a bit...scrawny for that?" Theo tilted her head to one side.

"Yeah, but he must be good, I mean those gangsters seemed pretty afraid of him." Nathan pondered.

"Yes, although they seemed to name him according to the son of someone. Maybe it was just who he was related to. Plus, I don't think we've ever really seen him fight for real." Theo commented.

"Strange."

"But still, what an arsehole!" Richmond commented.

"Aw, I'm so sorry Ami..." Hina rested a hand on Ayame's shoulder.

"Why would he do something like that? He was so..." Ayame choked on her words.

"Don't worry, you don't have to talk about it." Theo smiled sympathetically.

"Thanks, Theo." Ayame sniffed.

"So..." Sarah began, "You guys are over?" Sarah tilted her head to the side, looking slightly disappointed. Ayame nodded solemnly.

Kakashi then walked in, causing the atmosphere to tense slightly.

"Okay guys, we have no notices today, and so..." Kakashi rambled on. He never looked at Ayame even once. It was the same over the next few days, where Ayame and Kakashi hardly spoke unless absolutely necessary, and even when she came over for her History lessons, they stuck to as little personal conversation as possible, even though she still secretly wanted to be by his side, even if they weren't holding eachother or kissing as usual. Over the Christmas holidays, Kakashi spent his time with Sasori and Deidara, and Ayame with her family, yet they never saw eachother once. It was after then, that Ayame's friends decided to pay Kakashi a little visit.

There was a knock on Kakashi's door. Kakashi slowly made his way over to answer it, and raised an eyebrow upon finding Ayame's possy standing in the doorway.

"How do you know where I live?" Kakashi asked, squinting.

"Brooke told us. Now we need to talk." Richmond explained.

Kakashi sighed. "I'll make you all some hot chocolate." Kakashi walked into the kitchen.

"Score!" muttered Nathan.

"To be honest, I'm glad you came." Kakashi commented. The others stared at Kakashi, confused.

"Why?" They all asked together.

"I don't know. I'm just..." Kakashi walked out of the kitchen, setting five cleverly balanced mugs on the table, "Happy to see you." he finished.

"Well, Ayame's not very happy," Richmond frowned, picking up a mug of hot chocolate and blowing on it to cool it down. 'Marshmallows?' he thought.

"I know." Kakashi replied. The gang stared at Kakashi incredulously.

"How could you do something like that to Ayame?" Nathan asked.

"With difficulty." Kakashi replied, trying to sound as distant as possible. Theo scoffed.

"With difficulty? I heard you didn't seem at all fazed or sad when it ended."

"She'll get over it. She said she didn't want to see me again, and I'm fine with that. She's right anyway, she deserves better." Kakashi paused, his delay going unnoticed by everyone apart from Hina.

"You know what? You're an arsehole." Nathan spat out. "I can't believe you'd take advantage of her like that. You make me sick." he finished his hot chocolate quickly before they filed out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind them, leaving Hina behind.

"You really do love her, don't you? Of course you do. You're not a bad person. After all this time, I'd think we'd have known if you were." Hina smiled. Kakashi refused to reply.

"There's always hope." Hina advised, before closing the door gently behind her, leaving Kakashi all alone once again.

The next day, Ayame received another bouquet of flowers from Gregg.

"Hey, Ayame," Poonam observed, "You haven't been so good the past couple of days, everything alright?"

"Yeah." Ayame replied shortly, looking down.

"You know, Greg might have changed drastically. You never know until you give him a chance." Poonam commented.

"Yeah? Maybe I will." Ayame smiled slightly. Poonam jumped back in surprise.

"What? You never listen to Poonam. Why the sudden change of heart?" she asked, referng to herself in the third person.

"You're right, that's all." Ayame smiled.

'If he doesn't love me, he doesn't love me. I can't dwell on these things, I should just move on.' she thought.

"Hey!" Greg interrupted her train of thought. He pulled her to one side, whispering, "I heard what happened. Sensei's a bastard, you didn't need him anyway."

"Thanks." Ayame muttered.

"I hate to say I told you so, but..." Greg put a hand on her shoulder. Greg's slightly smug commented ticked Ayame off slightly, but she just shrugged it off.

"Well, if you want to take your mind off it, me and some friends are going out to a bar tonight. It's really nice. You'd like it." Greg offered.

"Fine." Ayame accepted. Greg was slightly taken aback, but soon recovered.

"Okay. See you then." he grinned, walking off.

"Oh my gosh!" Poonam came back, squealing.

"What is it?" Ayame asked, looking alarmed.

"Poonam just found out that Sensei's gay!" Poonam said a little too loud, attracting just about everyone's attention.

"What? How do you know?" a voice at the back of the room called out.

"I just saw him and Deidara in the corridor! They were exchanging presents and then hugging and shit!" she giggled, causing a stir around the room.

"That's hardly likely." Ayame mumbled.

***WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ***

"_Hey, Dei!" Kakashi called out, causing Deidara to turn around._

"_Huh? Oh, Kakai-chan!" Deidara smiled, irritating Kakashi with his little nickname for him._

"_Guess what I found?" Kakashi asked, before showing him a plushie on a keyring of Deidara in Akatsuki uniform._

"_Oh my gosh! It looks just like me!" Deidara gasped, poking at it in awe._

"_Freaky, huh?" Kakashi asked, dropping it into Deidara's hand. Deidara gave Kakashi a questioning look._

"_Keep it. Think of it as a late Christmas present."_

"_Kakai-chan!" Deidara beamed, about to hug Kakashi, before Kakashi leapt back._

"_Whoa, don't touch me. I don't know where you've been." Kakashi shifted, slightly uneasy._

"_Oh, so you're afraid of the germs? Well how d'you like this!" Deidara flung his arms around Kakashi's neck, chocking him._

"_Ah- Dei, let go, let go!" Kakashi squirmed._

"_Oh, so that's the great Sharingan no Kakashi's weakness, is it?" Deidara laughed, Kakashi still trying to prise Deidara off of him._

The day ended in Ayame's classroom with history. Kakashi packed up to go, and walked out of the doorway. He narrowly avoided Greg on the way, and he could have sworn that Greg shot an evil glare in his direction, muttering, "Sensei." Kakashi stopped, looking back for a brief moment.

"Ayame! You coming?" Greg called to Ayame.

"Oh, sure!" Ayame replied, quickly ramming her books into her bag.

Kakashi winced slightly at the sight of Ayame with someone else, before sighing, and continued on his way.

"You see that?" Nathan asked, looking at where Kakashi used to be.

"He looked so upset." Sarah commented.

"You don't suppose he...wasn't just using her, do you?" Hina asked.

"Maybe." Theo nodded.

"Hey, Greg, where you been?" a delinquent friend of Greg greeted him inside the bar.

"Sorry, sorry. I was busy. Here, this is Ami." Greg introduced Ayame to his friends.

"Hey." They chorused.

Ami, this is Tom, Dick and Harry."

"Hi." Ayame looked down, timid.

"Can I get you guys anything?" the bartender asked.

"Ah, yes!" Harry perked up. "I shall have a glass of your finest port." He slammed down a whole load of money on the bar.

"Dude, where did you get that?" Greg asked.

"The guy who works at the cornershop. I took it while he wasn't looking. Too easy!" The two shared a laugh. Ayame shifted uneasy.

"You stole it?" Ayame asked.

"Oh, who are you, Miss...I'm-a-goody-two-shoes?" Dick said, in an attempt to cuss.

"Don't worry, we can soon change that." Tom smirked. "A glass of white wine for the lady, please."

"I don't drink." Ayame deadpanned.

"You're boring." Dick retaliated. "We're in a bar. Drink."

At about seven o'clock at night, Kakashi walked into a very lively bar. People were dancing to an old fashioned jukebox, and others were playing snooker with their friends, which is what made the sight before Kakashi so peculiar. Five limp bodies slumped over the bar, one of which he recognised all too well.

"Wha..." Kakashi walked over to Ayame and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. Ayame rose, looking rather worse for wear, probably due to her messed up hair.

"I'm not asleep." Ayame randomly commented. Kakashi raised one eyebrow.

"Ayame?" Kakashi tilted his head to one side. "What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, Kakashi, you're such a killjoy."Ayame slurred. Kakashi squinted.

"Ayame, are you drunk?"

"Oh, who are you, Mr...I'm-a-goody-two-shoes?" Ayame asked, mimicking Dick's words.

Kakashi sighed. "Okay. You're coming with me."

"It's okay, Kakashi. I won't drink anymore. I'm unconscious, after all." Ayame struggled with the longer words in that sentence.

"Well, either that, or I'm calling your father. Which one is it to be?" Kakashi smirked.

"Fine." Ayame groaned. Kakashi grabbed her by the wrist and lead her through the crowd of lively people.

Once they had arrived at Kakashi's flat, he made Ayame brush her teeth, before he gave Ayame some coffee and she eventually sobered up, leaving nothing but a terrible hangover behind.

"This is why young people who can't handle their drink shouldn't have alcohol." Kakashi half chided, half mocked. Ayame groaned, holding her head in her hands.

"My head...feels like it's about to explode..." Ayame squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

"Good. Perhaps you'll have learnt your lesson then." Kakashi nodded. He eventually caved in after hearing her constant moaning.

"Here, let me..." he perched on the kitchen table, putting his hand under her chin, tilting her head upwards, and putting the other one on her forehead. Ayame immediately started feeling better, as she saw a soft green light pulsing underneath Kakashi's palm. It gently faded away, leaving Ayame feeling good as new. Kakashi slowly took the hand on her forehead away, leaving the other one in place. They stared into eachother's eyes for a few seconds, until Kakashi broke eye contact when he was suddenly brought back to reality.

"Thanks." Ayame almost whispered.

"I'm not a medic, so I'm fairly useless at that technique. Tsunade's much better."Kakashi looked up.

Ayame caught an image of herself on a reflective surface, and saw how ghastly she looked.

"I look a mess. You got a hairband? Oh wait of course you-" Ayame was stopped in mid-sentence, when Kakashi produced a hairband from his right pocket.

"Oh, you have one." Ayame said, fairly surprised.

"Yeah, well you never know when you need one." Kakashi replied.

"Ah, thanks." Ayame blushed slightly, tying up her hair. "Well it's getting late. I should really go home." Ayame got up reluctantly, walked towards the door and opened it.

"Bye." Kakashi paused. Ayame walked out of the door a couple of steps.

"Uh, you could always-" Kakashi called out after Ayame, causing her to stop and turn around.

'You could always stay the night.'

"What?" Ayame asked.

"Uh, nothing. Be safe." Kakashi muttered before closing the door. He turned around, only to turn back again when a knock was heard on the door. He opened it to reveal Ayame, looking down, unwilling to make eye contact.

"Ayame?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I wanna talk to you." Ayame whispered.

"Be my guest." Kakashi invited her to sit in the living room, slightly confused. He sat opposite her, waiting for the awkward silence to pass.

"If...you are a shinobi, then Deidara and Sasori are too?" Ayame asked.

"Not exactly. They're...How should I put this...criminals.." Kakashi deadpanned. Ayame jumped back in surprise.

"Huh?"

"They belong to an organisation that's sole purpose is to destroy Konoha."

"What? But you were getting along so well, like you were best friends or something." Ayame exclaimed.

"Well, It's a delicate situation we're in. They were minding their business, I was minding mine. We didn't choose to be hired for the same mission, and we can't start ripping eachother to pieces when we're supposed to be working together to protect you. Plus there's two of them and one of me. It's safer for me to reach a mutual agreement. Plus Gai, but I don't know where he's fucked off to." Kakashi reasoned.

"So when the missions over...?" Ayame asked. Kakashi nodded,

"We'll be enemies."

"But won't that be...What if..." Ayame struggled for words.

"It's no big deal, just a fact we all have to face, the next time we meet, after this mission, one of us will probably die," Kakashi rested his head on his hand, "It's not like it's the first time either of us have had to do this," he mumbled, confusing Ayame slightly.

'That's sad...I like them...' Ayame thought.

"When was your first...y'know..." Ayame fished around for the right word.

"Are you asking me when was the first time I killed someone?" Kakashi asked, leaning forward with mild amusement, "Well for a _normal_ person, who'd start training at the age of eight, then decide whether they want to be a shinobi at about twelve...I'd say 16 to 22 years." Kakashi said.

"That's not what I asked." Ayame deadpanned.

Kakashi paused, wondering whether he wanted to tell her or not.

"I was six years old." He said in a slightly more serious tone. Ayame was truly taken aback by surprise.

'Six years old and killing people? It's so hard to believe...he must've had no childhood.'

"You must hate me." Kakashi mumbled to himself.

"I should," Ayame began, "But I don't."

'It's better this way; I should just move on, or at least try.' Ayame thought.

Kakashi sighed, "Still, thanks for talking to me: I missed you."

Ayame let out a sarcastic laugh, "You don't have to pretend. I just thought you were a different person to who you actually are, that's all."

Kakashi gave her a look between surprised and incredulous.

"You didn't miss me. You even said it yourself: You didn't care about me at all, you only did it so that you could be closer to me, so that you could succeed in your mission-"

"Stop it!" Kakashi pleaded rather quietly, but his words curiously echoed throughout the room. He slid off his chair to kneel infront of Ayame, looking up with desperation, his huge eyes capturing Ayame's shocked gaze.

"You didn't let me explain, you're always so stubborn. Yes, I'm sorry I lied about my circumstances for being here, and it's true, at the beginning I paid attention to you simply because you were my client, and that's the same reason I gave you the tuition. But it was only to get close to you, not... I enjoyed your company when you came in early and I always felt happier when talking to you. Sometimes I'd even look forward to you coming round and I loved teaching you. But it was when you helped me with Vivi that I ...felt it. So I tried to resist you, even stay away from you if I could, but when you stopped talking to me, I...I missed you. Much like I miss you now." Kakashi broke eye contact and looked down, feeling Obito's eye watering. He didn't want to be seen as the type who cries over something like this simply because of his crybaby friend. His pride wouldn't permit it.

"Much like I love you now." Kakashi mumbled.

Ayame didn't know what to think: Here he was, the man who she loved so much, the man who she thought wanted nothing to do with her, and now here he was, telling her he loved her. She'd never seen this side of Kakashi before. He was always so calm and collected, and now he seemed so desperate. She tried to keep the tears in her eyes from falling, but to no avail.

"Just one question..." Kakashi's head shot up, waiting for Ayame go on, regardless of his eye.

"Why did you give me a B?" Ayame asked.

Kakashi sighed, raising an eyebrow, accompanied by a soft smile, "Because it lacked effort. It sucks compared to the essays you do now." Kakashi mused. There was a silence surrounding the two, before Ayame broke it, wiping away her tears, before cupping Kakashi's face in her hands.

"You're stupid, Sensei." Ayame leaned forward, pressing her lips against Kakashi's. Kakashi rested his hands on Ayame's hips as Ayame pushed him down onto the floor, opening her mouth to let Kakashi's tongue explore.

It was when she felt the back of her dress unzipping that she suddenly realized what was happening, and tensed up.

'Wait, are we really going to do this? Shit, I don't know what I'm doing, what do I do? What do I do?' Ayame panicked.

Kakashi paused. "We don't have to do this if you don't want, Ayame. Don't feel like I'm putting pressure on you." Kakashi's voice was muffled by Ayame's skin.

"No, I do, but..." Ayame struggled to find the right words.

"Are you sure? You just seem really tense." Kakashi commented.

"It's just..."

"What?"

"It's just that..."

"Yahuh?"

"I've never done it before!" Ayame blurted out. Kakashi paused.

"You haven't?" Kakashi asked, zipping up her dress again.

"No." Ayame looked down, embarrassed.

'Great, I've just ruined the moment, haven't I?' Ayame thought.

"So...I would've been your first?" he asked again, when it really hit home how innocent and childish she still was. She nodded shyly.

"Do you still want to-" Kakashi was cut off by Ayame.

"No, I do, I...It's just that I want it to be..." Ayame stuttered.

"I understand. I guess then I'll just have to..." Kakashi fished around in his vocabulary.

"Teach you.**(A/N: Warning: LEMON!)**" Kakashi looked up. He leaned forward slowly, shrinking the gap between their lips, allowing Ayame to go the rest of the way, until their lips met. Kakashi slid his tongue along her bottom lip, Ayame opening her mouth in response, allowing his tongue to explore the deepest, darkest corners of her mouth, before she returned the favour, while she unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, both leading eachother to the bed. His hands then made their way down to the top of her dress, tugging down on it to reveal two small, firm breasts. He briefly hovered around them, before tugging on her already erect nipples, causing her to gasp in pleasure. Kakashi suddenly pulled away, leaving a small thread of saliva between their lips. He then moved down, Ayame resting her hands on his head for support. He began to suck on her breast, his tongue, circling around and flicking her nipples, causing Ayame to let out moans of pleasure, and her face to turn red with heat. Kakashi then bit down, hard enough for it not to hurt too much, making Ayame tighten the grip on his silver locks.

His hands then slid down to her most private area, rubbing it until moist. He then propped his middle finger ready for entry. He looked up to Ayame for approval, Ayame giving her permission, before his finger slid into her warmth. Ayame let out a sigh, before he pushed another two fingers in. Ayame somewhat grunted with discomfort, allowing a small, "Sensei" to escape her lips.

"I know, it's uncomfortable at first. but you get used to it..." Kakashi said in a low rumble, his fingers scissoring inside her, stretching her.

"And then you start to like it." he smirked, enjoying the sound of her gasps and sighs. He then withdrew his hand, leaving Ayame panting, though slightly disappointed that it had ended. Though the next thing she knew, she could feel his erect member pressing against her clit. He slid it inside her, Ayame moaning at the thought of Kakashi being inside of her, Kakashi doing the same. He started with slow grind to ease her in, gradually getting faster and harder with every thrust, moaning as he did so. Soon enough they both climaxed, Kakashi spewing cum inside of her. He withdrew his member, falling onto the bed beside her, both of them panting rapidly.

"So," Kakashi began, "First timer, how was it for you?" He asked, with a half-joking voice, turning to Ayame and putting his arms around her.

"It was good. Thanks." Ayame timidly replied, running her fingers along Kakashi's collarbone.

"H..How was I?" she asked.

"You? You were amazing." Kakashi replied, letting his eye curve up into his signature smile. "I'm proud of you," he said, stroking her hair.

"You make it sound like it's my first soccer match or something..." Ayame mumbled. Kakashi chuckled. "It's always better the second time." Kakashi commented. Ayame rested her heavy eyes, wearily.

"Ayame?" Kakashi said.

"Yeah?" Ayame managed to get out, before drifting off. Kakashi brought his lips close to her ear and softly whispered,

"I guess that's one more thing I've taught you."


	16. Chapter 16

Episode 16 -

Ayame opened her eyes, finding herself in Kakashi's bed, contemplating what had happened the night before.

"Oh, you're awake." She turned to find the source of the voice, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Anyway, you need to get up now. We still need to go to school." Kakashi nodded. Ayame paused. She forgot about school.

"Oh shit." she deadpanned.

"You can share a ride with me." Kakashi offered.

"Yes, that's all very well, but I didn't go home last night. What will I tell Dad?" Ayame panicked, oblivious to the fact that her father already knew about them.

"Oh, don't worry, I sorted that out. Just go have a shower, get changed, yada yada..." Kakashi rambled on.

"Into what?" she asked.

"Hm, how about these?" Kakashi threw a set of clean clothes at Ayame.

"These are my clothes...how did you get them?" she asked.

"I have my ways," he smirked.

"Oh, Kakashi you're amazing," she commented.

She had a shower, and got dressed, before making her way to the kitchen, where Kakashi was cooking.

"Hey." Kakashi smiled, setting a plate of the full English breakfast on the table infront of her.

"Oh, Kakashi this is too much." Ayame commented, sitting down.

"Nonsense. You've got a big day ahead of you."

"I have?"

"You have. Besides, maybe this'll go towards fattening you up. It couldn't hurt you to go up a couple of sizes..." Kakashi's eyes drifted towards her breasts. "Especially-" his comment was met with a slap.

"Pervert." Ayame pouted. Kakashi gave a lighthearted chuckle as Ayame started digging into her breakfast.

"Oh how I've missed those slaps." Kakashi mused.

"Thanks." Ayame said between mouthfuls. 'The first signs of masochism...' she thought. Kakashi sat next to Ayame, threading his tie round his collar.

"Did you sleep last night?" Ayame asked Kakashi.

"A little. I know you did. You even fell out of bed once and you still didn't wake up." Kakashi giggled, covering his mouth.

Ayame looked down, embarrassed. She looked up, sighing.

"Here, it's all crooked..." Ayame leant forward, straightening out his collar and tie.

"Honestly, Kakashi, you know everything there is to know about History, you can do backflips and teleport and shit, but you can't tie a tie." Ayame mocked.

"Sure I can. Today's just not my day." Kakashi said giving a lame excuse.

"Whatever." Ayame smirked, resting her hands on his chest. Kakashi looked at his watch.

"We're running late. If we want to get to school without everyone seeing us, we'd better go."

Kakashi drove them to the school parking lot.

"Well, I'll see you later," Kakashi said, getting out of the car, followed by Ayame.

"Okay." Ayame smiled.

"Hey, Vivi, did you get last night's homework?" Poonam asked Vivi, as they walked.

"Um, which one? If you mean Maths then, sorry, I can't help you. You didn't do it?" Vivi replied. Poonam grinned sheepishly.

"Neither did I." Nadia admitted.

"Hm? What, Ayame, no kiss goodbye?" Kakashi smirked.

"Huh? Did you hear that?" Nadia suddenly perked up.

"Heh? No way! What if someone sees us?"

"Is that Ami?" Poonam questioned. Vivi grew pale, knowing what would happen if they followed the source of the sound, so in a spurt of quick thinking, she fell over. Poonam and Nadia whipped their head around, and rushed over to Vivi in order to help her up.

"Hm? I don't see anyone around."

"Well..." Ayame gave a quick peck on the cheek before turning around, embarrassed.

"Bye." She muttered, running off. Kakashi smirked, before heading in the other direction.

Ayame turned the corner, almost crashing with Nadia and Poonam.

"Ami! Was that your boyfriend? Who is he?" Poonam asked, ecstatic.

"He goes to the school, doesn't he?" Nadia questioned.

"Um, guys..." Vivi looked up from the floor.

"I think I hurt my leg pretty bad." Vivi sweatdropped.

"Oh, we'll take you to the nurses office. TTYL, Ami." The three departed.

"That was close. Thank goodness for Viv." Ayame thought.

Later, after the school bell rang, Ayame and the gang were chatting alone in the classroom.

'Did last night really happen? Kakashi's really mine again?' Ayame thought. However, though she had no doubt in her mind that Kakashi loved her, and that she loved Kakashi, she couldn't help but feel that something was missing from their relationship,

"AMI!" Sarah screamed. Ayame jumped.

"Wuh?"

"I was asking you whether you did the maths. Apparently no one did."

"Oh shit, I didn't do any homework yesterday." Ayame commented. Everyone started at her, shocked.

"Are you okay, Ami? Did something happen last night? Was it Greg?" Nathan asked, worried. Ayame began blushing madly.

"Oh my God you had sex!" Sarah exclaimed, but not loud enough for everyone to hear.

"NO WAY. Really?" Richmond gawked at her.

"Wha- How'd you come up with something like that?" Ayame asked.

"Oh, so you did, then?" Richmond smirked.

"Honestly, Ami, don't you think it's been too short after You-Know-Who? And with Greg of all people!" Sarah chided. Ayame sweatdropped.

"What?" Sarah asked, confused.

Kakashi then walked into the room.

"Yo, Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi returned with his usual bored expression plastered across his face, "So, we have a few notices today."

"Look at him, so smug, what a bastard." Theo eyed Kakashi.

"Oh, I have a poster here about a talent competition. Next week. It says here: 'Come and sign up by the music department's office if you want to be involved. It's meant to be great fun and we hope to raise lots of money for the school charity.' It says they're looking for an interestng and diverse act, so that won't be so hard for you, Olivier." Kakashi looked at the half-chinese transexual, who waved back.

"Plus, the winners get two tickets to a holiday resort to Dubai when the Easter holidays come and $1,000 to share between them. I have a sign up sheet here, so, anyone interested?" Kakashi asked, not really interested in anything that was going on. However, he was not prepared for the rush of students wanting to sign up, thinking, 'That holiday is mine!'

He was cruelly pushed out of the way as the students rushed to have their names signed up, not knowing what they would perform yet.

Kakashi, having been pushed aside, found himself next to Ayame's desk, to which he simply gave a look that said, "C'est la vie," shrugging, Ayame letting out a slight laugh. The others looked at the two curiously.

"Hey Ami, wanna sign up?" Theo asked Ayame, tearing her attention away from Kakashi.

"Huh? Not really, I don't know what I'll do. I don't really have a talent." Ayame mused.

"Sure you do. Why don't we all do something together? Like a band!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Who?" Ayame asked.

"Well, Richmond, me, you and Sarah." Theo nodded enthusicatically.

"I hear she plays a mean guitar." Kakashi said in passing, looking up.

Ayame paused, before banging her fists on the desk, "Stop talking to my father!"

"Play a mean guitar, do you? Well What're we waiting for? Let's sign up!" Sarah walked up to the signing sheet. Ayame sent Kakashi an evil glare.

It was Wednesday, so everyone had afternoon form time. Kakashi was fifteen minutes late, as usual.

"Alright guys, you know the routine. Do some homework to pass the time, or if you have nothing to do, revise. The Mid-term Assessments are soon, so I'd get your heads down."

He then heard a knock on the door. It creaked open to reveal Mr. Townsend, A man in his mid-forties, with died black hair, slightly balding at the top, and a little overweight.

"Hey, Mr. Hatake, how are you?" He asked, in his dorkish sounding voice. To be honest, he was quite intimidated by Kakashi: he couldn't take his sarcasm (Though most of the time he was just being brutally honest, people just refused to believe he was serious).

"Oh, Mr. Townsend. I'm fine, how are you today?" He said, trying to be polite, but the bored look in his eye gave him away.

"Well, I came to tell you that some of the staff are thinking about doing a group entry for the Talent Show. A kind of 'Teacher's Band' thing." This really attracted the children's attention.

"Oh. Good luck with that." Kakashi said, arranging the papers on the desk.

"Oh, no, I was wondering if you would like to join in." Mr. Townsend smiled nervously. This proposition was cheered on enthusiastically by the class.

"Really? I'm sorry, I really can't imagine myself on a stage infront of hundreds of children playing along to "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Gary Numan is where I draw the line." Kakashi sighed.

"Well no one said we would be playing anything old. Besides, I'm not in the band. It'll be all the 'cool' people, like Mr Vernon, Mr Might, Miss East, etc. Maybe even Miss Hart."

Kakashi pondered a while about the thought of Miss East in a band, but then waved the thought away, "Nay: You can't woo me with talk of women." Kakashi smirked, the more intellectual minds in the class letting out a low rumble of laughter.

"Well, think about it. I'll see you later," Mr Townsend left the classroom.

"Sensei, you should so join, It'll be great!" Nadia called out.

"No." Kakashi deadpanned.

"Aw, but it'll be fun! And it's for charity!" Olivier perked up.

"No." Kakashi deadpanned once again, to the disappointment of his students.

Ayame had eaten dinner at school, having stayed quite a while after school with her friends, doing some homework while she had the chance. She suddenly got up and began to pack.

"Hey, where are you going all of a sudden?" Theo asked.

"Oh, I've got to leave soon, my lesson with Kakashi's in half an hour." Ayame looked at her watch.

"What? You're still having lessons with that creep?" Sarah narrowed her eyes.

"Well you see..." Ayame begun.

"Ayame, you have to learn to fight these urges to be with him. You guys are over! You have to move on!"

Greg then appeared out of nowhere, "Hey, Ami, I'm sorry about last night, I didn't mean to leave you and get drunk like that."

"Hm? You weren't together last night?" Sarah inquired.

"Hm? No, I kinda passed out half an hour through and left her on her own." Greg sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, so if you didn't have sex with Greg, then who were you with?" Nathan stated bluntly. Greg's eyebrows shot up to the ceiling upon hearing Nathan's statement.

"Well I kept trying to tell you-" Ayame was interrupted when Kakashi walked in, as if magically summoned by Nathan.

"Oh, hello. What are you guys doing here so late after school?" Kakashi asked innocently, leaning against the doorframe. Everyone immediately tensed up when he arrived.

"That's none of your busines-" Greg was interrupted by Hina.

"Um, we were just doing homework, that's all." Hina answered, shining her all-knowing smile.

"Ah, that's good of you. Oh, Ayame, your lesson's in thirty minutes. You planning on leaving soon?" Kakashi asked.

"Ah, yes, in fact I was just leaving now." Ayame answered.

"Oh," Kakashi perked up, "Well we're not going straight to my place, and seeing as we'll both be going there, why don't I give you a lift?" Kakashi offered.

"That sounds good." Ayame smiled, and left the others in a state of confusion.

"You didn't tell them we were back together?" Kakashi asked Ayame, as they got into the car.

"I tried to, but they never gave me a chance." Ayame sighed.

"Ayame," Kakashi began, while getting out his phone and dialling a number, "Can you stay over at mine tonight? By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be too tired to do anything, and I feel quite uncomfortable letting you out in that state." He put the phone in the car, and then drove off.

"Also because I'd quite like to be near you tonight." Kakashi mumbled under his breath, not quite quiet enough to be out of Ayame's range of hearing.

"Okay, but what will my father say to that?" Ayame asked.

"Let's find out..." Kakashi said, as the person on the other end picked up the phone.

"Hello? Sasaki residence." Hayate said.

"Oh, Hello, Sasaki-san. Kakashi here." Kakashi responded.

"Oh! Kakashi-kun! How nice to hear from you." Sasaki beamed.

"I was just wondering of It was alright to keep Ayame for the night?" Kakashi asked.

'Eh? What the hell is Kakashi thinking. Dad's bound to be suspicious if that's the way he goes about things.' Ayame thought.

"Oh, no, of course you can. I think it's great that you two are back together. Ja ne!" Hayate hung up.

"You!" Ayame stared in shock. "You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you! You two are practically joined at the hip!" Ayame crossed her arms.

"Hey, don't be like that! I don't tell him everything." Kakashi said playfully, as the car came to a stop. He took Ayame's face in his hand and gently whispered in her ear, "I certainly didn't tell him about what we did last night," he smirked, causing Ayame to blush.

"When did you tell him?" Ayame asked.

"The day of that hotel party." Kakashi answered.

"Hm, I'll never trust you to keep a secret." Ayame grumbled.

"Oh come now, he deserved to know what was happening with his innocent flower." Kakashi smirked, "We're here."

"What is this place?" Ayame asked.

"My friend back in Konoha owns this Dojo, it's sound proof and the walls are hardened so that the dojo can stand a lot of damage."

"Okay, but why are we here? I thought we were doing history."

"You don't really need History lessons anymore. Sure if you ever need help with anything, you can always come to me, but for now, let's focus on what's really important." Kakashi leaned in closer.

"I'm going to teach you to protect yourself."

Kakashi's prophecy was fulfilled. Ayame was tired. So tired that Kakashi had to piggy back Ayame all the way to the flat. He placed her in one of the chairs in the living room, before turning round and crouching down infront of her, saying, "You alright there? Tell you what, you rest there for a while and I'll run you a nice hot bath." he smiled, walking in the direction of the bathroom.

"Heh, you think that's tiring, wait till he does actual jutsus with you." Ayame jumped as soon as she heard that strange voice. She whipped her around to see who it was, but blinked in confusion when all she saw was a small pug sitting on the coffee table.

"What's the matter: Never seen a dog before?" It asked, causing Ayame to jump back in surprise.

"Never a talking dog, no..." Ayame drawled.

"So, Kakashi's girl, eh?" the pug jumped down from the coffee table, "My name's Pakkun. And yours?" Pakkun asked.

"Er, I'm Ayame..." she replied, still feeling slightly uncomfortable talking to a dog.

"Heh, the ramen girl back home's called Ayame." Pakkun mused.

"Um, forgive me for asking, but how come you can talk?" Ayame tilted her head to the side.

"I'm very smart." Pakkun deadpanned. "So, how's things getting along with Kakashi then?" he asked.

"Ah, okay, I guess." Ayame answered, unsure.

"You don't seem sure of that. Is something bothering you?" Pakkun asked.

Ayame hesitated, before eventually giving in. "Well, I don't doubt his feelings, and I don't doubt mine either, but I just feel something's missing...somewhere. I'm not sure."

Pakkun nodded, "He's holding back."

"What?" Ayame tilted her head to the side.

"Well think about it. Kakashi probably knows everything about you: He knows your father, and he's older than you, so you've spent a bigger portion of your life with him than he does with you, and you're the kind of person who has no complications, who wears her heart on her sleeve, so to speak. Kakashi's not like that. He's a complicated man with a complicated past. He flinches at the word 'friends'." Pakkun jumped back on the coffee table.

"Thinking about it now, I guess you're right. Even when he's talking to Gai-sensei, he paused a bit." Ayame agreed with Pakkun.

"He has trouble opening up and for that reason carries a number of façades, to keep other people from knowing the real Kakashi. It's not his fault, he's had a rough time over the past few years..." Pakkun drawled.

"What do you mean?" Ayame asked, curious.

"Ask him. If he loves you, he'll gladly tell you. He's always wanted to vent, he's just never found the right person. And if he has, he just doesn't know how to tell you." Pakkun nodded.

"Oh. " Ayame paused, "You seem to know an awful lot about me without having met me, y'know." Ayame leaned forward.

"Kakashi talks a lot about you." Pakkun explained.

"Really?" Ayame beamed.

Pakkun gave an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, he gets all happy and bubbly when he mentions you and all that..." Pakkun said, deciding to humour Ayame.

"Yay!" Ayame beamed even more.

"Hey, you're Ayame, right?" Pakkun asked. Ayame nodded.

"Have I told you about some ramen girl back home called Ayame?" Pakkun asked.

"Uh, yes, yes you have." Ayame sweatdropped.

"I see you've met Pakkun." Kakashi smirked, leaning against the door.

"Hey boss." Pakkun grumbled, "I was just telling Ayame here about the girl at Ichiraku's. Y'know, Teuchi's daughter." Pakkun nodded. Kakashi nodded back.

"Well that's all very well, but aren't you supposed to be sending the mission report to Tsunade for me?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Pakkun frowned, jumping down from the coffee table and walking up to Kakashi.

"Yeah yeah, alright. I'm going. See ya," And with that, Pakkun poofed away.

"Now then," Kakashi smirked, moving in closer, "Don't worry, by the time you've finished soaking in that nice, hot bath you'll feel good as new."

"Ah," Ayame sighed, feeling lazy, "I don't think I can walk there. Will you carry me?" she tilted her head to the side, half-mocking.

"Sure," Kakashi smirked, leaning over and pressing a finger to her lips, "You need not say another word. Would you like me to undress you too?" he just managed to get out before being slapped half way across the room.

"I'll get there myself, pervert." She sighed, getting up and walking towards the bathroom. The funny thing is, he ended up undressing her anyway.

"Hmmmngh..." Ayame mumbled as she blew on the ring, sending thousands of bubbles floating upwards.

"Hehe," she giggled, reaching out for one of the bubbles, "I haven't played like this since I was a child." Ayame closed her eyes.

"I can't remember ever playing like this." Kakashi smiled, moving the sponge he was holding down Ayame's arm, then dropping it, holding onto her hand, their fingers intertwined.

"But it's good to be a little childish from time to time, ne?" Kakashi asked, wrapping his arms around her body and resting his head on her shoulder, "If we were serious all the time and never had fun, we would be really dull and sad all the time, hm?" Kakashi mused, looking regretfully back on his childhood. Ayame could feel that he was holding something back from her, but she decided no to take notice.

"Yeah," Ayame agreed, "and everyone would carry around the same look you have when you're at school." Ayame mocked.

"Hey now!" Kakashi chided, "You don't speak to your teacher like that!"

"Yeah, well you don't have bubble baths with your student either: It seems we're both in the wrong." Ayame smirked.

"Ayame, if loving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right." Kakashi smirked. Ayame thought a while before yelling, "Cheesy!" splashing a wave of soapy water in Kakashi's direction.

"You're right, Kakashi, I already feel good as new." Ayame stretched out infront of the bed.

"Mm, see? Sensei knows best." Kakashi smiled, planting a small kiss on her neck, wrapping his arms around her. Ayame was about to hugged back, though as her fingers brushed past his body he suddenly jerked backwards and drew a sharp intake of breath. Ayame quickly panicked, worried she'd hurt him in some way.

"Are you okay?" Ayame asked, terrified, seeing a tint of red creep across Kakashi's face, his hand covering his mouth. He slowly removed it, forming a sheepish grin, "O-oh it's nothing, really." Kakashi let out a nervous giggle.

"Are you sure? - Wait a sec..." Ayame thought back a while, before her eyes lit up in realisation, "You're ticklish, aren't you?" Ayame could barely get out between chuckles. Kakashi? Ticklish? They just didn't go together.

"Shush now." Kakashi put a finger to Ayame's lips.

"Eh?" Ayame stared, confused and comically amazed.

"No one must know: If they find out, they will most certainly use it to their advantage." Kakashi warned.

"What? No one knows that you can't stand a tickle?" Ayame asked, still half-laughing.

"No! I've never told anyone before. No one's even assumed it. Do I look like the ticklish kind?" Kakashi asked, pointing at himself.

"Well, no. You're always kinda calm actually." Ayame drawled.

"Exactly, so if this leaks out, they'll terrorize me for all eternity." Kakashi waggled a finger at Ayame.

"Okay, okay..." Ayame looked up innocently, despite the mischievous thoughts going through her mind.

'What's with that strange gaze?' Kakashi thought, in response to Ayame eyeing him up.

"D...don't you even think about it..." Kakashi warned, dread-lines appearing on his face.

"Hm? Think about what? What do you think I'm going to do? Could it possibly be...? **THIS**!" Ayame pounced on Kakashi, ignoring his pleads of 'No!' and 'Stop!' between fits of laughter, ending up struggling on the bed with Ayame eventually pinning him down by holding onto his wrists.

"Waah~ Sasaki, you think this is how you treat your teacher?" Kakashi drawled.

"Yeah right, you're just annoyed cause I've finally got the upper hand." Ayame smirked, "Ticklish, huh?" Ayame's eye drifted towards Kakashi's scar, as she pressed light kisses across it, whispering, "And how does that feel?" enjoying his squirms and shifts under her body.

"G...good..." Kakashi murmured.

"Ah, it's 9: 30. Better get to bed." Ayame yawned, rolling over, much to the dismay of her lover.

"Hey, that's not fair, you were leading me on! You can't lead me on and then just...roll over!" Kakashi groaned.

"I can. I just did." Ayame pouted.

"Well you have a point, I don't want to keep you awake like I did last night." Kakashi sighed, wrapping his arms around Ayame and pressing his lips to her forehead. They shared a comfortable silence between them, which lasted a few minutes.

'Prompt him...How am I supposed to do that? What if he pushes me away?' Ayame thought.

"I didn't have much of a childhood." Kakashi stated, out of the blue. Ayame's eyes widened. Had he been reading her mind?

"My mother was a medic, she became a housewife after she married my father. She died when I was six. My father was a great shinobi, held in an even higher respect than the Legendary Sannin. I was fairly popular because of that. But you know, he was a good father too. A lot of people refuse to believe that."

Ayame paused, "What happened to him?"

"The day he came back from a mission, I went to school and found that I was one of the most hated people there. It wasn't just the kids either. The teachers, and parents also seemed to carry an alarming amount of dislike for me." Kakashi said, a tint of anger in his voice.

"Why?" Ayame asked, confused.

"At fist I thought it was something I did, but then one day some woman exploded when I bumped into her, saying , 'My husband is dead because of the Hatake clan,' or something like that. That's when I thought it was something to do with my father and that mission. Turns out he had the option of saving his friends or completing the mission. What would you have done, Ayame?" Kakashi asked.

"Save my friends, of course." Ayame mumbled.

"Well that's exactly what he did. And that resulted in thousands of lives lost in Amekagure and Konoha, and the beginnings of the fourth great shinobi war." Ayame looked up at Kakashi, slightly taken aback.

"So one day I came back from training, and well..." Kakashi paused.

Ayame hesitated, "W...Well?"

"He committed suicide." Ayame's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't expecting that. Of course, her own father spoke of him a lot, but the way he did, she thought he was still alive!

"Suicide?"

"Yeah, I walked in on him in his study one time and he was there...just bleeding really" he drawled in a frightfully casual tone. That was when he looked down, and upon seeing her shocked face decided not to go into the details, after all he didn't want to give her nightmares as well.

"And that's it really." he finished.

"That's it? What happened next?" Ayame asked.

"Next? Well, people eventually forgot about the White Fang after his death, I carried on with my own life as normal, and then Obito came along." Kakashi mumbled.

"Obito? Who's Obito?"

"He was...a friend, I think." Kakashi paused, "But that's a story for another time. I don't want to keep you up any longer. You have school tomorrow." Kakashi smiled.

"Eh? You have school tomorrow too, y'know." Ayame pouted.

"Yeah, but that's different. I'm not a child." Kakashi smirked.

"Eh, I'm eighteen! I'm not a child!" Ayame poked Kakashi.

"Meh, well, you're a student, you're a child." Kakashi made his best attempt at a shrug.

"Hm, and if I'm a child then you're a paedophile." Ayame smirked.

"Okay, okay, you're not a child." Kakashi admitted, earning a laugh from Ayame.

"But Kakashi...Thanks for telling me." Ayame said.

"Thanks for asking." Kakashi replied. Ayame looked confused, seeing that Kakashi was the one who started the whole conversation, but she decided to let it rest and go to sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

Episode 17 -

Kakashi woke wide-eyed, drawing a sharp intake of breath as he sat up, his head in his hands, startling Ayame and causing her to drop the glass of water in her hands. His eye was throbbing with so much pain, he could barely concentrate on anything else.

"Kakashi?" Ayame's small voice came from beside the bed.

Kakashi paused, having calmed down a little, "Ayame?" he asked, still panting, refusing to turn his head to face her.

"Yeah. You...you were stirring in your sleep. Are...are you okay?" Ayame asked hesitantly, knowing that the question was pointless, she could see for herself. She felt almost a little scared herself, and her having no idea what to do made her feel even a little useless.

"Of course not!" Kakashi spat out, "Would you feel alright if you felt as though your eye was going to explode out of it's socket any minute now?" Kakashi's sudden outburst made Ayame jump slightly as Kakashi began to ramble on.

"I swear this thing's given me more grief than good. I could have lived with one eye, right? He **died** for me, that was bad enough, right? So why the hell did he have to stick his fucking eye in my skull on top? Stupid Obito, it was so that I'd feel guilty every time I looked in the fucking mirror! I felt shitty enough for ten fucking years!" He said quietly, but in a tone so that Ayame knew he was screaming inside.

Ayame was at a loss for words. It scared her that Kakashi was hurting so, and she even felt slightly ashamed that she couldn't do anything to help. Though thinking that doing something was better than nothing, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay-"

"What the hell do you know?" Kakashi yelled, causing Ayame to jump back in fright. Kakashi, panting still soon realized that he'd scared her and his look of intense anger soon turned into a look of remorse and desperation.

"I'm sorry Ayame, I didn't mean that, you know I didn't. It's just that..."

Kakashi, feeling a sudden pain, keeled over again, He felt like he was going to be sick.

"I hate him so fucking much!" He let out a distressed yell. Ayame was soon awash with an overwhelming sense of pity and pain to see the one she loved in such distress. In a sudden impulse to wrap her arms around him, letting him cry silently on her shoulder.

"Don't cry," Ayame whispered, kissing away the tears on his cheek, "I'll be here for you."

"Hey." Kakashi shifted uncomfortably in front of the door. He had never cried like that before, and he was mentally kicking himself that the one time he did cry it had to be infront of her. Or maybe it was because this time he had a shoulder to cry on this time. He had to admit that he felt better afterwards, but he was sure of one thing: He would never show his weakness again. He would rather suffer a thousand years of pain than cry. Especially in front of her. He was supposed to be the one protecting her. She was the one he wanted to be strong in front of.

"Hey." Ayame looked down. She wasn't exactly sure what happened last night. She must have fallen asleep while she was holding him, but he essentially poured his heart out to her, whether he'd meant to or not. It was strange seeing him so...in pain.

"Sorry about last night. I'm not usually like that, I just-" Kakashi was cut off by Ayame.

"It's okay, Kakashi, I understand." Ayame smiled awkwardly. She tried to find the right words while they shared the uncomfortable silence.

"I didn't...make things worse, Did I? By...by bringing it up." Ayame asked.

"No, it wasn't you," Kakashi smirked, stroking her cheek with his thumb, "Uh...You won't...tell anyone, will you?" Kakashi asked. Ayame let out a small laugh, while reaching out and adjusting his cardigan and tie.

"You look nice," Ayame commented.

"Likewise," Kakashi replied.

"Okay then, let's go." Kakashi opened the door as the two left.

As Ayame was leaving the car, a hand caught her wrist. She turned round to Kakashi questionably.

"Forgetting something?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ayame smiled, leaning forward and planting a sweet kiss on his lips, before turning round and leaving.

She was glad that he was back to normal again. She didn't like it when Kakashi was sad or in pain. Although, now she felt closer to him than ever.

"Ami has a boyfriend, Ami has a boyfriend, Ami has a boyfriend..."

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY BOYFRIEND!" Ayame fumed, Causing Poonam to shut up.

"Aw, why won't you tell us who it is? It's not Greg, is it?" Poonam asked.

"No, it's not Greg." Ayame replied, rather irritated.

"Then who?" The two's conversation continued like that for a while, while the others discussed the matter further.

"What was yesterday all about? You don't suppose she's back with Sensei?" Nathan asked.

"I hope not. He's a dick, you know. He'll only treat her like dirt." Theo frowned.

"Maybe he's not really like that. You know, maybe he has an explanation." Hina commented.

"Oh Hina, always seeing the good in everyone. But unfortunately there is no good in someone like Kakashi." Theo responded. Hina sweatdropped at her boyfriend's denseness.

"Okay, settle down. I got some notices." Kakashi said, getting a few glares from a few of Ayame's friends.

"Oh, hey! Here's one. It's a week into the new term. So we have to elect a form rep." Kakashi informed the class.

"Oh my God!" Franky exclaimed.

"What?"

"Ke...Ka...Kakashi! I can say it!" Franky yelled, earning exclamations of, "Wow" and "Well done!"

Kakashi put a hand on Franky's head. "A*" was his simple reply.

"No way, really?" Franky asked.

"No." he deadpanned. "So, who would like to nominate themselves or anyone else for form rep?"

"Ugh," Brooke spoke quietly to Ayame, "I miss him when he was more cheery, if you know what I mean." she commented.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ayame replied.

"But you get to see him like that every day, so it's fine for you." Brooke looked at Ayame.

"Yeah, I guess." Ayame smiled, "You're surprisingly good at keeping secrets, you know." Ayame commented.

"If somebody's trusted me with important information like that, I would never tell anyone." Brooke said as she raised her hand.

"I nominate Ayame." she deadpanned.

"WHAT!?" Ayame asked, shocked.

"Okay, who votes for Aya-chan?" Kakashi asked the class, who were oblivious to Kakashi's pet name, apart from the people who knew about the relationship.

Practically all hands were raised, as everyone knew how she would hate the extra responsibility. Even Vivi and Hina had tuned into their dark side to watch frustrated conversations in the future between Sensei and Ami.

"Okay, then it's settled. Ayame is our new form rep." Kakashi smiled. The sounds of cheering were heard all throughout the classroom. While Ayame stood, waiting for the ground to swallow her up.

"Of course, with the economic downturn in places..." Kakashi rambled on. Ayame was tired by that point, having stayed up almost all night with Kakashi. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, and stayed in the unconscious state for about five minutes, before she gradually woke up, the first thing she saw being her lover, staring down at her silently.

"Were you sleeping in my class?" Kakashi asked silently but dangerously, all eyes in the classroom on her.

"Uh...Um, no, I was just...just resting my...eyes-" Ayame's feeble excuse was interrupted by Kakashi slamming a pink slip on the desk.

"Detention." he deadpanned, quickly walking back to the board and continuing with the lesson.

Ayame felt slightly cheated, given that her staying up was purely because of Kakashi. And she would have thought that he's be slightly more polite when addressing her, given that her was her lover.

'Maybe I did make it worse after all...' Ayame thought.

Ayame walked up to Franky and Louie, who seemed to be plotting against their homeroom teacher once again.

"What are you guys doing?" Ayame put her hands on her hips.

"Revising." Louie commented.

"Revising? I thought you guys were against that sort of thing." Ayame drawled, confused.

"Yeah, but we kinda feel bad for Sensei. You know the class has been pranking him for a long time now and he's fallen for every one of them." Terry explained.

"And he hasn't even lost his temper or given us a detention, just smiled and said,'It's alright. Have fun while you're young.' and all that shit." Louie looked down, almost ashamed.

"Plus, he gave you a detention today, and he hasn't reprimanded us at all. We think he's subconsciously taking it out on you, cause, you know...You're form rep and all." Franky commented.

"Hey guys, Let's take a break to spy on Sensei!" Franky called, Ayame sweatdropping as the whole class gathered round the tv set.

"How are you expecting to do that?" Ayame asked.

"We made Charlie the Tech-wolf and Terry break into the staff room early this morning." Franky said, his eyes still glued to the screen. So far, only Deidara and Sasori were in the room, Sasori on his laptop and Deidara making coffee.

"I'm actually interested in what's he's like when not infront of us. He always has that bored look on his face though. And he's really sarcastic. I don't think there's much to see." Lena drawled/

"Yeah. He's nothing special. He's really sarcastic, but I think deep down he's an earnest, typical nice guy." Nadia smiled.

--

"Work, Damnit, Work!" Deidara hit the sides on the coffee machine in order to jog something inside it into working.

"Beating it to a pulp won't make it work. You'll only damage it further." Sasori by this point was getting rather impatient.

"You shut up!" Deidara yelled, accidentally hurling a cup he was holding at Sasori, missing him by a huge distance, headed for the door. Unfortunately, Kakashi happened to entering at the exact same moment. The good thing was, thanks to his experiences with Tsunade, he was able to dodge it just in time, earning gasps and exclamations from the students/

"Ooh, good reflexes. Been practising?" Deidara asked.

"Well..."

_***Flashback**__*_

"_Hey, sorry I'm La-" Kakashi was cut off by a bottle of Sake hitting him on the forehead with enough force to knock him over._

"_You're late!" Tsunade yelled._

"_Hey sorry I'm late-" Kakashi was once again hit with a bottle of sake, knocking him over._

"_You're late!" Tsunade yelled._

"_Hey sorry I'm late-" Kakashi was interrupted by Tsunade hurling a bottle of sake at him, Kakashi ducking just in time._

"_Ha-" Kakashi was then cut off when he was hit by an ironing board. He was knocked over again, wondering where she got these objects. From._

_You get the picture._

_-End of Flashback-_

"...Yeah, that." Kakashi finished, a distant frightened look in his eye. The pupils stared in shock and fright, along with Deidara and Sasori.

"Oh, we'll be much nicer to Tsunade when we see her now, I think." Deidara drawled.

"Nah, I think the worst was the iron." Kakashi mused.

"THE IRON!" Deidara voiced the words everyone was thinking, "How did you survive?"

"Quite well actually, although there still is one..."

"What?"

"Well, promise you won't laugh?" Kakashi moved closer, lifting up his fringe slightly, much to the mixture of horror and amusement of his companions.

"I...don't know whether to laugh or cry." Deidara commented.

"Huh? I can't see it." Franky scratched his head.

"It's not that bad." Kakashi tilted his head to the side.

"Not bad? You have freakin' dots steamed into your skull!" Deidara keeled over laughing, everyone in the classroom recoiling in shock.

"I swear that's like, domestic abuse." Sasori commented.

"No, it would actually be abuse at the workplace. Think of the millions I could claim!" Kakashi nodded.

"Funny. Only you would brag about being Tsunade's bitch." Sasori sipped his cup of tea.

"Hey, might as well live with it. Everyone's Tsunade's bitch. It's an inescapable misfortune." Kakashi shrugged.

"Speaking of which, why are you all wet?" Sasori asked, earning the dirtiest look from Kakashi.

"I mean speaking of inescapable misfortunes." Sasori put Kakashi at ease.

"Oh shit yeah! I thought you were being perverted for a second there!" Kakashi sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh. OH! Haha, Kakashi, it's good you're back to your perverted self again." Deidara laughed.

"Oh well the kids were up to their pranks again, that's all." Kakashi waved the thought away.

"The same prank you were telling us about this morning? Why are you falling for pranks on purpose?" Deidara asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sasori asked. Deidara shook his head.

"Kakashi, do the honours?" Sasori looked at Kakashi, who put on the sweetest face and voice he could, smiling, "I don't care how cruel the kids are to me, just as long as they have fun and pass their mid-terms."

"Oh! You're guilting them into doing well in their exams! But isn't that kinda manipulating?" Dei asked.

"Well yeah. The damn brats have the cheek to prank me, they deserved to be messed with." Kakashi smirked, moving over to the kettle.

"That bastard! I'm not revising any more!" Franky yelled.

"What if they find out that's what you're doing?" Sasori asked.

"It doesn't matter. By now it's too late. They have the knowledge, they're not gonna lose it any time soon." Kakashi grinned in an evil manner.

"Well that son of a bitch!" Terry spoke up.

"Tea?" Kakashi offered, holding out a cup.

"Okay." Deidara grinned, taking it. He took a sip, before staring it down curiously.

"This is some pretty good shit you know."

"Well that would make sense," Kakashi began, sitting down,"I found that cup next to the toilet."

Deidara spat the tea out onto Kakashi's face and shirt, coughing so hard he even fell over.

"Yeah, really fucking mature. I swear you are the most destructive person on the planet."

"Nah, that title would go to your little blond student." Sasori retorted.

"Naruto? Oh, I guess you're right." Kakashi drawled, getting up and moving towards his bag, producing another shirt.

"Oh no way. You even saw that coming?" Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"Hm? No, that's what the towel's for." Kakashi pointed at the towel in his hand. Deidara sweatdropped.

"No, this is incase I ever want a change of clothes after I've had sex on the school premesis." Kakashi deadpanned, in a rather casual manner, invoking a facevault from everyone who heard.

Deidara mockingly rested his head on the table, whining, "It's not fair, everyone's doing Kakashi except for me..."

Kakashi sat down after changing shirts, much to the amusement of the girls watching.

"Yeah, I know, everyone wants a piece of Kakashi. But there's simply not enough of me to go around-"

"I was kidding, you jerk!" Deidara's head shot up.

"Relax, me too." Kakashi smiled laughing almost sweetly, "Ah, speaking of jerks..."

Tsunade walked into the staff room, saying, "Kakashi, we need to talk. Nice hole, by the way." pointing at the hole in the wall made by Deidara.

"Aah, Likewise." Kakashi smiled. The two in the room immediately stiffened, as well as the people in the classroom.

"What was that?" Tsunade glared at Kakashi. Kakashi paused, about to sip his tea, "Oh, I'm sorry, sis you say 'nice hole' or 'nice hair'?" Kakashi looked at Tsunade innocently, who smirked, patting Kakashi on the shoulder, saying, "I don't know whether that's a compliment or a slappable offence."

"Well, I'd say a slappable offence, but I'm a masochist, so that would only encourage me." Kakashi tilted his head to the side.

"Well anyway, Naruto brought something over for you..." she produced a small package and brought it down on Kakashi's head, which hit the table and caused a crack to form down the centre of it. Everyone jumped back in fright.

"What did I say about being an arsehole?" Tsunade asked patronisingly. "Hello boys, how's America so far?" Tsunade turned to Deidara and Sasori.

"Fine...Just fine...thanks..." Was the hesitant reply.

Kakashi looked up in pain at the parcel for him, and realising that it was Jiraiya's notes for his next book, suddenly perked up. "Oh hey." Kakashi picked it up and immediately began reading it, still in pain.

"At least my former students still care about me." Kakashi mumbled.

"Shut up you." Tsunade squinted.

"Ah, Tell Naruto I'm sorry I called him a prick. Good kid, good kid." Kakashi beamed.

"Hm, yeah, he loves you enough to feed your crazy porn addiction." Tsunade tilted her head.

"Ah- A romance novel expressed in a much more physical way than...others." Kakashi corrected.

"Wait, what?" Terry blinked.

"He reads porn in a school? Full of teenagers? Full of me? Okay, I am officially scarred for life." Phillipa commented.

"I need the report from you now." Tsunade looked at her watch.

"Well now that you're here why don't you just ask me?" Kakashi blinked.

"Hey now, don't make me kill you." Tsunade smiled.

"Fine, well I just happen to have it here," Kakashi fished around in his bag for it, until he found it and handed it over.

"Great, Now I'll read it over and alter your salary accordingly." Tsunade walked out of the room.

"You slimy man!" Deidara pointed at Kakashi. "You really are a masochist!"

"Well why are you surprised? I did say that just a few minutes ago..." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, still reading his book.

"I thought you were being sarcastic!" Deidara shook his head, confused.

"Eh, are you stupid?" Sasori began, "You should know by now, Kakashi's** never **sarcastic."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's pretty much the bluntest man I know. And when he's not being brutally honest, he's probably just barefaced lying." Sasori nodded.

"Wow. If I ever become an anime character, you are so doing my profile." Kakashi commented.

"Wait, so why does everyone think you're so sarcastic?" Deidara asked.

"Probably because he's such a terrible person that people refuse to believe that such a man exists." Sasori closed his eyes, nodding silently.

"Hey, now you're just making me sound way worse than I actually am." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

The bell rang.

"Ah, Kakashi-san, I believe you have some first years to torture." Sasori looked at his watch.

"Oh, I'm late to lessons so much that you feel the need to keep my timetable for me. That's so sweet of you." Kakashi smiled, leaving the staff lounge.

Terry turned the Television off, before sharing a moment of scarred silence with the class.

"Wow. Sensei really is a prick; I thought he was just sarcastic all the time, but it turns out he really is that insincere."

Ayame knocked on the door of Kakashi's Office, waiting for the reply.

"Come in." Kakashi called from inside, at which time Ayame had already stormed in, with a, "I was tired because _you_ kept me up all night." strutting angrily up towards Kakashi, who was leaning back against the desk.

"I know." Kakashi said, at the time reading his new book.

"So why did you give me a detention?" Ayame asked, feeling a little backstabbed.

"I just wanted to see you." Kakashi put the book down and rested his hands on her hips.

"But you see me in class all the time." Ayame commented.

"I know," Kakashi whined, nuzzling into her neck, "But it's nothing like talking to you or holding you. I barely get to look at you during lessons."

Ayame ran her hand through Kakashi's hair, failing to hide her enjoyment, "But it's pretty selfish of you. You know this will go towards my report."

"Then I won't count it in your report," Kakashi smiled, placing a light peck on Ayame's neck with a slight giggle.

"Did you like the little show I put on for you guys?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh so you knew about the camera." Ayame confirmed.

"Are you surprised?" Kakashi asked, a smirk creeping onto his lips.

"Not at all." Ayame traced Kakashi's jaw with her fingers. A solemn look suddenly graced her face.

"Kakashi, about last night..."

"Oh no, I don't wanna talk about it-" Kakashi began, withdrawing completely from Ayame, his eyes darting towards the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ayame whispered, holding Kakashi's head so that he had to look at her, though he still wouldn't make eye contact. "You can look at me you know. I'm not that ugly." she joked.

Kakashi's eyes reluctantly made contact with hers.

"I don't like to see you in pain, and I can't be happy unless you are too. So if I can ever help you, please tell me. After all, I like taking care of you. You do so much for me it makes me feel like I'm giving back." Ayame leaned forward, waiting to see if Kakashi felt comfortable enough to complete it. When there was no response from Kakashi, she asked, "Does that happen every night? Is that why you can't sleep?"

"Nine times out of ten." Kakashi replied.

"Just..." Kakashi began after a minute of frozen silence, blushing slightly from embarrassment. "Hold me at night." Kakashi completed the tender kiss, his arms tightly bound around Ayame.

--

It was the end of the day, and Ayame was walking home from the school parking lot with her friends. A black car then suddenly pulled up infront of them, nearly running them over.

"Ayame!" Adrian jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Oh hey!" Ayame waved, happy to see her newly made friend.

"I thought I'd pick you up since you were walking home. What do you think?" Adrian offered, "I can give your friends a lift as well."

"Oh yeah, "Ayame remembered, "You haven't met, have you? Guys, this is Adrian. Adrian, these guys are Theo, Sarah and Nathan."

"Pleased to meet you." Adrian smiled.

"Oh, the pleasure's all ours," Sarah giggled excitedly at Ayame's new 'friend', "Ayame, why didn't you introduce us earlier?"

Ayame laughed sheepishly, "Anyway," Ayame tried to avoid the subject, "Shall we?"

Adrian smiled, "Okay," but then he stopped as something caught his eye.

"Isn't that Mr...Hatake? Isn't he a little old for school?" Adrian tilted his head in confusion, staring at the figure in the distance, currently being tormented by seventeen-year-olds. Theo and Nathan tensed as son as he was mentioned.

"Hm? No, he's our history teacher." Ayame shrugged. Adrian looked a little shocked when he had heard that, but recovered in not too much time. He gave Kakashi a flimsy wave of his hand, wondering if he realized that Adrian was even there.

"Eh? Are you sure you don't know? We've gone over this in class at least five times today." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Sensei, it's just that I'm having such difficulty understanding." One of the girls said, lying.

Kakashi nodded in a manner close to spiteful. He looked round and saw a familiar face, and instantly lit up at the opportunity to rid the girls.

"Ah, excuse." He said, lightly pushing away one of the girls who was invading his personal space by the forehead and walking towards said excuse.

"Hey, Adrian right?" Kakashi smiled.

"Um...yes. That's me." Adrian replied hesitantly.

"Ah, good. Nice to see you again. How's business?" Kakashi asked out of politeness.

"Ah, great! We reduced the cost of our products and now units are flying off the shelves." Adrian grinned, "Uh, I'd like to thank you again for your help..." Adrian said, sheepishly.

Kakashi simply looked down, letting out a softer version of Sasuke's "Hm," accompanied by a slight smirk except lacking the smugness that usually accompanied it. He left without a further word, though just before he glided out of sight, in the eyes of Ayame and Adrian, he gave a short wave behind him.

"What the heck was that all about?" One of the three fangirls asked, confused by what she had seen.

"Dunno. But I sure would like to find out..."

"Erm... Sorry about that. Shall we?"


End file.
